To Death
by WinterSky
Summary: Elsa was a kind and generous queen, loved by all, but she wasn't the only ruler with power over ice and snow. Meanwhile, Gerda is determined to save her best friend Kai from the evil Snow Queen. But can she save Arendelle from an eternal winter? (A Frozen/Snow Queen crossover. Updates M/W/F)
1. Prologue - Troll Prophecy

A/N - Welcome all! Just an fyi, I think some people are getting scared away because they see the Troll Prophecy below and assume I am just going to go about quoting outtakes for the rest of eternity. No, no, there is a whole semi-original novel to follow! This is just the set-up. The story starts with chapter one, of course. ;) Hope you enjoy!

**Prologue**

"_Your future is bleak. Your kingdom will splinter._

_Your land shall be cursed with unending winter. _

_With blasts of cold will come dark art_

_And a ruler with a frozen heart._

_Then all will perish in snow and ice._

_Unless you are freed with a sword sacrifice."_

_- __An ancient Troll Prophecy as related to King Alfred II of Arendelle_


	2. Ch 01 - Ice Crystals

**Johanna**

The people of Arendelle have a saying: "True love will thaw the frozen heart."

It is supposed to be a cheerful platitude, one that gives comfort to the weary and hope to the unsophisticated masses. Oh, yes, true love. Doesn't it sound so pretty?

The people recite this clever truism to themselves as they go about their day, as they sweep the snow from their front steps, as they chop their firewood, as they blow out the lone candle on their bedside table and fall asleep with nothing but a tangle of blankets to protect them from the encroaching darkness. All of them know the saying, and yet no one thinks to ask the obvious question.

Maybe the heart is better off frozen.

A crash sounds from somewhere below me, the sound of ice shattering into fragments.

"Kai," I shout. "Idiot boy, come here at once!"

Kai appears from behind a wall of iridescent ice. He stares up at me with wide, empty eyes. He doesn't speak. He rarely does, unless I order him to.

"What were you doing back there?"

"Lighting the fire."

"Did you break anything?"

"I knocked over a plate, but I swept it up."

The incompetence I put up with. "Did you actually light the fire?"

"Yes."

I sweep past him without investigating. Kai is usually trustworthy, and I have every reason to believe he has done as he was told. Besides, I hate being in the same room as fire. I only light it for guests.

There is a pounding at the door. It causes the ice crystals to reverberate in the main hall, and high above me the frozen chandelier begins to sing. I take a moment to enjoy it, the song of the ice echoing through me. I reach a hand to the sky. We are connected, the ice and I. I can feel it weaving between my fingertips, resonating to my core. I squeeze my hand into a fist, crushing the invisible vibrations, and the ice stops singing. I smile. There is something satisfying about killing the song. About how quiet the room suddenly goes.

Kai is still standing there. Silent as the ice crystals.

"The goblin emissaries are here," I say. "Go set the table. Try not to drop anything this time."

_A/N - Psyched to be back on this site! My last story was turning into a desperate mess, so I took a break to write one about Frozen. I made sure to complete this one before I started posting. It will update Mondays and Fridays._

_Thanks for reading!_


	3. Ch 02 - Window Boxes

**Gerda**

It has been six months to the day since Kai vanished. I miss him dreadfully.

I am sitting in the window box outside my bedroom, surrounded by a cluster of flowers that spill out of their pots like a billowing green cloud. A little bee bumbles from one daffodil to another. I look away. I do not want to think of bees and their queens. It reminds me of a story Kai's grandmother told us, back when Kai used to listen to his grandmother.

In the corner of my window box sits a rose bush. I look at the place where Kai's rose bush used to sit in the window box across from mine. The empty spot from which Kai tore it is still there, a splotch of dark earth among the green.

For twelve years of my life, Kai lived next door to me. We both lived with our grandmothers—our parents died in the Goblin Wars. Our houses were so close that our balconies touched. In the summer, we could climb out of our windows and play together. Kai and I were not related, but he was in every way my brother.

Then everything changed.

"Gerda?" My own grandmother is at the bedroom door. "Are you alright?"

"Of course, Grandma."

I crawl back into my room. I'm embarrassed to be seen sitting in the place where Kai used to sit. As if I can fill in the space where he isn't.

"Some of your school friends are at the door. They're asking if you'll come out and play."

"Not today," I say. I sit on my bed. Grandma steps inside and wipes her hands on an already flour-covered apron. Grandma is constantly baking, and she always smells of fresh pie dough.

"I know Kai's death has been hard on you," she says. She sits down on the bed next to me. "When I was young, I lost a friend to the river too. During the Great Snow of Queen Elsa's reign." She squeezes my shoulder. "It's never easy, but the memories live on."

"Thanks, Grandma." I embrace her in a tight hug. For a moment, we sit like that, until a burning smell invades the room.

"Oh!" she gasps. "My pie!" She jumps to her feet, then looks at me like she's not sure she should leave.

"Go save the pie!" I wave her away and giggle despite myself. Grandma leaves. I turn somber again.

Grandma has always been kind to me. Everyone is kind to me now, ever since Kai's death. They say it was a tragedy. They say he got lost in a snow storm, that he wandered onto the river and drowned under the ice. This would not be the first time it has happened, they say.

What would they say if I told them the truth?

That Kai isn't dead.


	4. Ch 03 - Mirror of Opposites

**Johanna**

The goblins are little men with pale pointy green ears and wide faces. They bring food and reports on the war. Nothing much to report. The illusion is working, they say, and they are slowly making progress on the war against Arendelle-Ciera. It would go much faster, they add, if I would just grant them an eternal winter.

"I have no reason to provide you with an eternal winter," I say. "I have told you under what conditions it would be granted, and you have yet to fulfill them."

"It is an impossible task," the head goblin mutters.

"Then try harder," I say.

Beside me, Kai is gnawing on a reindeer drumstick. He seems hungry. How often have I been feeding him? I don't have to eat as often as normal people do—the cold sustains me. It is easy to lose track of the eating habits of common folk.

I cut a slice of reindeer with a knife made of pure ice. Everything in my court is made of ice. We dine at a table of ice, eating on plates of ice, using cutlery made of ice. I am something of an artist when it comes to ice. My early attempts were crude and unsophisticated, but now everything I make comes together with a flick of the wrist.

I wish I could lay claim to creating the Ice Palace itself. It is a feat truly worthy of a queen, an elaborate, intricate maze of ice tunnels and ice halls, wide cavernous ballrooms, dazzling in their opalescence, stairways bright as crystal and walls sleek as silver. How I would have been proud to create such a masterpiece!

But it was not mine. I found it like this. A secret paradise, empty and untouched. A tragedy to neglect something so beautiful. I took it in, I spoke to the ice and promised it companionship, and I made it mine.

The head goblin is babbling on about an illusion, gesticulating animatedly with his little pale green hands. Goblins are proud of their illusions, as if their pretty games of make-believe constitute real magic. Everyone knows that it's their cousins, the trolls, that possess real magical abilities.

"You are boring me," I snap finally. "If it is not relevant, I do not want to hear it."

I have frightened the second goblin. He drops his plate on the floor. It shatters. I sweep my hand across the table and the plate reassembles itself in front of him.

"Perhaps you will find this relevant," says the head goblin. He looks unfazed, and I am impressed by his nonchalance. I do not care much for heavy displays of feeling. "The mages of Arendelle-Ciera are trying to reassemble the Mirror of Opposites and revoke its illusion."

A few years ago, the goblins created a mirror that would show its viewer the opposite of the truth. They shattered it and scattered the pieces, fine as sand, across Arendelle-Ciera. The confusion caused by the pieces is what has allowed them to gain ground in the war. No one can tell what's real anymore. No one knows who is illused and who isn't. It was a clever little trick.

"Revoke the Illusion?" I echo. "Is that possible?"

"Theoretically," he says. "Queen Elsa was collecting the pieces during her lifetime, unbeknownst to us. It seems that the mirror has been half-assembled already. If they find a powerful enough spell and succeed in breaking the illusion, the war is certainly lost for us."

"How tragic." I swivel my finger around the top of a goblet, making the ice sing. "Why should I care?"

"I think you know exactly why."

The goblin smiles. Damn that clever little green man.

"Assuming that such a spell exists," I ask in order to distract him from his minor victory, "is there a mage in Arendelle-Ciera strong enough to perform it?"

"That's questionable," he says. His pointed teeth are showing. "Queen Elsa would be strong enough, certainly."

"Queen Elsa is dead."

"And yet you believe the dead can return."

He is irritating me. Outside, the snow is falling thick and fast. The wind begins to howl. "Under certain conditions."

"Who is to say her death did not fulfill those conditions?"

The wind batters at the crystal walls, causing the ice to screech. My fists uncurl, sending shards of ice flying from my hands. They crash against the wall and embed themselves, protruding from the smooth ice like knives from a freshly killed animal.

"Unless it is pertinent, I do not want to hear another word about my mother." I rise from the table. "This meeting is over."


	5. Ch 04 - Red Shoes

**Gerda**

I rise early. I am going to visit the river today.

I tip toe into my grandmother's room and plant a goodbye kiss on her soft cheek. She rolls over in bed but does not wake. I am not sure what I would tell her if she did.

Back in my own room, I open the window and say goodbye to the flowers. I have always been able to speak to flowers. Though it is an uncommon magic, it is one that my grandmother and I share. We can also speak to several birds, though she is far better with birds than I.

Kai used to like to hear me speak in the languages of the flowers. I taught him a little bit of the language of roses. He picked it up pretty well, though his accent was funny. When Kai grew sour, illused by goblin magic, he forgot the roses. He only mocked me for speaking nonsense words.

I lean out the window and inhale the scent of my garden.

'Goodbye,' I whisper to each flower in its own language.

'Goodbye, Gerda,'say the daffodils, the tulips, the sweet peas, and the hyacinths. 'Come back safely to us.'

My roses wish me luck.

'We hope you find your friend,' they say. I can tell they miss their friend too, the rosebush that used to rest across from them in Kai's window box.

'When I return with Kai,' I promise them, 'we will plant a new rose bush where the old one once grew.'

My roses rustle happily. I will miss them most of all.

I close the window all but a crack. Then I pause and look around. If the river has taken Kai, and I ask for him back, it will want something in return. I don't have much. A little bed, a wooden desk, a few dolls on a shelf and my clothes in the wardrobe. I open the wardrobe and pull out a pair of red shoes. The shoes are unscuffed. They shine like ripe cherries. For a moment, I hold them close to my heart. I can still smell the fresh leather. I don't want to give them up.

But I love Kai, and the river will love these shoes.

I set off down the street. I pray that the river has Kai. If he's not dead, and if he's not with the river, then the alternative is much worse.

_A/N – Thank you all so much for reading! I can't tell you how excited I get every time I see how many views this story has gotten already! You're all the greatest. *blushes*_

_I've decided to start updating 3 times a week because honestly? I have a short attention span, and waiting 4 days between chapters is making me impatient. From now on updates will be M/W/F. Thanks again for being here, and I hope you come back!_


	6. Ch 05 - A Thing With a Name

**Johanna**

We finish what's left of the meal in silence. Only the sound of the storm howling outside. The second goblin glances nervously at the first one. He does not trust me.

Wise of him.

I finish the reindeer on my plate and order Kai to store the rest for later. Reindeer is not a pleasing dish. The meat is course, tough. I expect it was over-cooked, though time and again I have demanded for it to be rare.

When I was a child, my Uncle Kristoff had a pet reindeer. It had a name. Perhaps I am eating a thing with a name. A feeling flutters inside of my chest, like a heartbeat. I silence it. I don't care. Even if the creature had a name, I wouldn't care. Emotions are beneath me. They are tumultuous, messy things, bursting inside of you, exploding like hot magma when you least expect it. It is better to be frozen.

Queen Elsa taught me long ago that emotions are to be embraced. She was wrong. I picture her in the courtyard of Arendelle Castle, her long blond hair falling in a braid down her back. She waves her hand, and the gushing fountains freeze instantly into intricate, lace-like curls. They sparkle like diamonds in the summer sun. I am young. I try to mimic what she did to the fountains, but only a lumpy sheet of ice appears at my feet. Frustrated, I stomp on it, trying to shatter the ugly thing, but it only thickens and spikes. The jagged edges nearly pierce my copper-colored shoes.

She smiles and strokes my hair. "Love will thaw, Johanna."

"I don't love it."I stomp again. A spike shoots up to the sky. "It won't curl like yours."

"Don't give up, Sweetheart. I've had a lot more practice than you, after all. I had to learn the hard way how to love."She laughs, waves her hand. The courtyard becomes an ice rink. "Come on. Call Aunt Anna and we'll practice."

I don't think there's an easy way to learn how to love. It irritates me, to think back on her laughing when I was right all along. Love may thaw the heart, but it could not keep her from foolishly running after my father when she heard he had been killed. Embracing that emotion did not save her. It did not save my father. And it did not save Julian.

I am angry at the goblins for bringing her up in the first place and causing me to remember things that have no place in my life anymore. I raise the wind. A window at the far end of the hall flies open. The second goblin lets out a nervous yelp. I smile.

Kai appears at my side. He has moved the reindeer meat to a crystalline ice box where I keep all of the food the goblins bring me. Kai has done well.

"Go warm yourself by the fire," I say. He sits in front of the fireplace and warms his hands on the dying embers. The goblins take that as their cue to leave. They put on their black coats, button the brass buttons, wrap thick black scarves around their ridiculous ears.

The Head Goblin stops at the door and offers a little bow. "Your Majesty. We will return if there is any more to report."

"Very well."

"In the meantime, you might consider, ah, the possibility of an eternal winter. I know you have suggested otherwise, but …"

He prattles on. They know the conditions under which I would consider exerting the effort. To suggest otherwise is sheer impudence.

"You might consider shutting your mouth," I say. I raise my hand, and the door slams in his face. An icy lock curls around the handles, locking him out. The curls blossom outward, like a flower. I touch the blossom. My chest flutters again.

I squeeze my fist, and the blossom shatters.

_A/N - As you may have figured by now, you'll appreciate this story more if you read Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen." Google it if you want-it is cute, short, and free!_

_Thanks for reading!_


	7. Ch 06 - River

**Gerda**

The river is cold between my toes. I clutch my red shoes tightly in my right hand as I wade into the ankle-deep water. Tall grasses rustle at my feet and cling to my legs.

This river flows north for miles and miles, emptying finally into the fjord of Arendelle. Grandmother tells me that Arendelle-Ciera wasn't always one kingdom. A few years before I was born, our King Frederick of Ciera married Queen Elsa of Arendelle, and the kingdoms merged into one. Now we live in one big kingdom that stretches the length of the river.

The water is up to my knees. I shiver as the cold water rushes past me, but I press on. If Kai has been here, the river will certainly know.

I hold my shoes into the air.

"River," I say. "I bring you my red shoes, never worn. They were a gift from my father before he left to fight in the Goblin Wars." There is a lump in my throat. "I will give you these shoes in exchange for Kai. Please bring him back safe."

I mean to toss the shoes far, far into the middle of the river and watch them sink out of sight, but they slip from my hands. The tide pulls them back into shore.

Frustrated, I gather my skirts and wade back to shore. I pick up the shoes, shining still, but now sopping wet. I am not sure I have the strength to throw them again.

A little boat is moored to a dock not far from me. It is the perfect size for a twelve-year-old girl. I scamper over to the boat and climb in. I can take the boat out to the middle of the river and drop the shoes straight down, where no tide will catch them. Then I can paddle back to shore.

I lift the heavy rope that is holding the boat to the dock. Almost immediately, the current pulls me to deepest part of the river. Once more, I lift my shoes.

"River," I say, "I ask only for Kai's safety." I drop the shoes. They hit the cold water with a splash. Droplets of water land on my skirt. I am satisfied. I have done all that the river could ask of me. Now all that is left is to paddle back to shore.

The boat has no oars.

I search under the seats, but the boat is so little. There is nowhere for oars to be hiding. I begin to rock the boat back and forth, hoping to use my weight to nudge it towards shore.

"River!" I shout. "River, let me go! I need to go home!"

The river does not hear me. If it hears, it does nothing.

A swallow flutters by in the trees overhead. It was a swallow who first told me that Kai had not died, who swore that he had been watching the river that day and Kai had been nowhere near it. I am usually good with swallows. I speak their language better than that of most birds.

'Swallow!' I call. 'Please help!'

This swallow is a stranger though. He does not take notice of me.

The wooden dock grows smaller and smaller at my back. The last thing I see before it falls out of view is the wink of red shoes, which have settled back onto the shore. I shout in frustration. How will I save Kai now?

_A/N – First Wednesday update! Thanks for reading! Ya'll are the best!_


	8. Ch 07 - Whirlwinds

**Johanna**

The goblins have gone. Good riddance. They are boring creatures and tedious conversationalists.

I sit on the throne in the upper hall, where the balcony looks out over the Northern Mountains. Their frozen peaks glisten even in the grey light of the storm. Outside, the wind screeches. The snow twists into a series of angry whirlwinds. I close my eyes, reach out with my mind, and send it spinning faster and faster. It's a game I play with myself. See how fast I can make it go!

I squeeze the liquid crystals into balls of ice and turn them loose. Hail the size of a tightly clenched fist breaks free of the whirlwind and spirals out into the night.

I can feel the place where the goblins are moving down the mountains. They form shapes that the snow beats against but cannot move through. I slow the wind in that area so that they can journey safely. I dislike them, but I want them alive.

Kai sits at my feet. The storm is too much for him. He shivers. I touch his forehead, and he stops.

I have grown fond of Kai. I did not expect to. I thought I might keep him for a week, maybe send him to the goblins after that. They are always looking for illused children to use as spies.

I came across him twice, quite by chance. The first time he ran, frightened. The second time I took him with me, though that was his own fault. The foolish boy had chained his little sled to mine as part of some game the village children played. I might have cut him loose, let him die alone in a frozen valley somewhere. Instead I brought him to my Ice Palace and let him stay. I can be charitable when the mood strikes me.

I could see immediately that Kai was illused by goblin magic. To ordinary folk, they say, shards of the Mirror of Opposites are indistinguishable from rain or snow. I cannot imagine how that can be. To those of us who can feel the snow— I say 'those of us' as though I am not the only one—the shards are obviously something other than ice. They feel all wrong. Wrong size, wrong texture, wrong flavor. Kai had a shard embedded deep in his heart.

Perhaps that is why he grew on me.

He is a clever little boy. He is silent until I call on him to speak, but then his thoughts come pouring out, spiraling around the room like a blizzard. He makes me laugh. That is a rare thing.

Sometimes, in my weaker moments, I think that if Julian and I had a son, he would have been like Kai.

It is pointless to think of Julian.

I raise a hand, and the wind slows. I reach deep, deep down the snow-covered mountains to where the goblins trek. I've changed my mind. I don't care anymore whether they live. I uncurl my fist, and a blast of icy wind slams into the little men. Their shapes slip and tumble down the hill. I laugh.

Kai, who cannot see what I see, laughs too.

"What are you laughing at?" I snap.

"Nothing." He averts his eyes.

The goblins lie still in the snow for a few minutes. Eventually, they climb to their feet and continue their journey.

_A/N - Thanks all for reading! I love feedback, so feel free to review!_


	9. Ch 08 - Journey

**Gerda**

The river takes me far north, much further than I have ever gone. We sweep quickly through the town, which is still shaking off sleep on this quiet summer morning. I try to call out, but the few people I see are too far away to hear me.

Before long, the town is gone from view. On the riverbanks, milk cows meander across pastures, lazily chewing their cuds. Sheep fill the air with their sorrowful bleating. Once, I see a brown mare sipping from the river, the shallow water beating ripples against her front hooves. She lifts her proud head and looks directly at me. Such a beautiful horse! I ache to reach out and bury my hands in her soft mane. But she, like everything else, gradually fades behind me. Even the farms grow sparse.

I have entered the uninhabited countryside that separates the two kingdoms. I catch glimpses of the dusty, broken road in between the woods and hills that roll around me.

Grandma says that when King Frederick and Queen Elsa ruled together, they built a road along the river so that travelers could move easily between Arendelle and Ciera. Once it was a busy, well-protected trade route. But it has since fallen into disrepair. Today it is mostly empty except for highwaymen and a few brave caravans.

There is not a caravan in sight. I pray no highwaymen find me.

Having given up on escaping the current, I lay down on the dry bottom of the boat and watch the sky. I am thinking of Kai, of summer days when we used to rest on the hillside, the long grass tickling our feet, looking for shapes in the clouds. Half the time I never noticed shapes until he pointed them out. He was always cleverer than me, even before the goblins illused him. Maybe that's why so few people noticed that he had been illused.

"Kai is just growing up," they told me. They were wrong. My Kai would never make me feel stupid. Kai cared about me. Growing up couldn't change that.

In the winter, when the skies grew dark and the clouds held only angry shapes, we would stay inside and my grandmother would make us cookies. Or we would visit his grandmother, who would sit us down by the fire and tell us stories. It was from her that we first heard about the Snow Queen and the Goblin Wars.

It started with the ancient troll prophecy, she said. Long ago, the trolls warned that a ruler with a frozen heart would bring about unending winter and destroy the kingdom. Everyone thought at first that it would be Queen Elsa, especially after she caused the Great Snow in the first days of her reign. But once she learned to control her magic, Queen Elsa was a kind and generous ruler. When her daughter, Princess Johanna, was born with the same power, everyone had been prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt.

She betrayed them. She betrayed us.

The Goblin Wars have been going on for most of my life. No one expected the goblins to pose a real threat, but then a crafty old goblin created the Mirror of Opposites. The shattered pieces mixed in with the snow and the rain, and anyone who was caught in a storm could easily be infected. The shards sowed confusion and mistrust among neighbors. No one can tell who's illused. Except Queen Elsa, but she's dead now.

Queen Johanna might be able to tell, but she won't help us. She sits in the North Mountain and casts heavy snows over Arendelle-Ciera, stirring up pieces of the illusion and making it worse. Occasionally she comes down in a sleigh made of ice and rides through the streets, as if to remind us that Arendelle-Ciera is still her kingdom. A kingdom of ice and snow for an evil snow queen.

The boat has stopped. I sit up. The river has taken me to land. I clamber onto the sandy shore and kiss the earth, I am so grateful to be on solid ground.

In front of me a cottage sits, cozily nestled in the midst of a valley. The cottage is beautiful, trimmed in blue and white like icing on a Christmas cookie. In the distance, an orchard of some kind spreads across the land. What stuns me, though, is the garden. I have never seen flowers bloom so beautifully.

Summers have been colder since Queen Johanna took the throne. The eternal winter of the troll prophecy has not yet come to pass, but the flowers tell me that it used to be so much warmer. The sun used to be stronger, they say, feeding them with its heat and strength. They would bloom brighter, colors splashing across every garden, filling the world with their sweet fragrance. Often flowers say they're sorry that I could not see them in their full glory.

I have wondered what such a garden would look like. Now I imagine it would look something like this one.

A grey stone path leads to the cottage door. At the foot of this path I spy a rose bush. Yellow roses blossom, round and bright like the incandescent sun. The roses sing a joyful greeting to me, and my heart swells with hope. Perhaps it means nothing, and yet I can't stop hoping that it means something.

Perhaps the river has brought me to Kai after all.

_A/N - What an exciting week! Frozen won 2 Oscars, Idina sang "Let It Go" live, and tomorrow is my birthday which means come back tomorrow for a bonus birthday post! Who could ask for more? ;)_

_Thanks again for reading!_


	10. Ch 09 - A City in a Snow Globe

**Johanna**

I stand knee-deep in mountain snow. My shoulders are wrapped in a white fur cloak, my feet laced in boots of ice, but the outfit is more for show than anything. The cold has never bothered me.

The sun is setting over Arendelle, gold and lavender sinking into dark violet and blue. During the summer, Arendelle glows in the soft evening light. It is picturesque, like a city in a snow globe just waiting for the ice to cover everything. I think of calling in a snowfall but decide against it. Let the people have their lukewarm summer. It is easier to call in a snowfall during the winter, when the winds are already moving in my favor.

When I was a child, King Frederick gave Queen Elsa a snow globe he'd bought in France. It was a stupid thing. The snow inside wasn't real. It felt dead. Anyone could tell that it was just bits of porcelain.

Queen Elsa loved it.

"Why do you like this stupid thing?" I said.I tried to move the fake snow, but it wouldn't obey me.

"Because it's a gift, Jo," she said.

"It's fake."

"It's only a symbol." She smiled. "It was given in love, and so it's dear to me."

"Hmmph_._" I made frost appear on the window pane.

She rustled my hair, pale blond and plaited like hers. "Would you like a real one?"

I nodded.

Queen Elsa thought for a moment. Then she pressed her hands together. When she separated them, a ball of pure ice balanced on her open palm. It was rough and chipped.

"Blow on it," she said. I blew. The ball of ice became smooth, clear, and hollow. Inside glittered a tiny carved city made of ice. The city was covered in snow—real snow! Queen Elsa twirled a gold-ringed finger, and a base appeared beneath the orb. She set it on the windowsill.

"Do you like it?"She said.

I ordered the snow to move. It rose inside the globe and swirled around and around. My own tiny blizzard.

"I love it," I said. I let the snow settle. For years I kept the snow globe at my bedside.

When Julian left, I shattered it. I shattered everything.

The goblins have journeyed beyond the North Mountains. I can't sense them anymore. The range of what I can feel is limited to only a few miles. I can send storms much further, but I can't control them. Queen Elsa had a much further range. She was not better than me, of course, only more experienced. Except in one thing.

For all of my talents, I cannot make a snow globe.

_A/N - Bonus post! So far my birthday has been splendid and has involving me listing to Idina and eating a lot of chocolate! Thanks all for reading, and particular thanks to thelinksthatconnectus for giving me my first review! _

_Tomorrow posting will resume its usual M/W/F schedule._


	11. Ch 10 - Garden

**Gerda**

A woman answers the cottage door when I knock. She is about my grandmother's age, wearing a broad hat and gardening gloves. Her silver hair is tied back in a long braid. She smiles. I like her immediately. She looks kind, if a little sad.

"Is Kai here?" I say, breathless.

"Who?"

"My friend Kai. He's my age. He has brown eyes like me, and brown hair."

"Oh sweetheart," she laughs. "You're the first visitor I've had in years."

The hope drains out of me. I have been on the river for half a day, with no food, no water, the summer sun beating down on me. All for what? I begin to cry. Tears run down my cheeks and splash against the warm brown earth at my bare feet. The woman looks stricken.

"Don't cry, sweetheart! It's not as bad as all that." She opens the door. "Come inside. We'll get you fed and cleaned up. It will be alright."

Inside, the house is cool and dry. She fixes sandwiched for both of us and pours me a cup of goat's milk. Over supper I tell her everything, how Kai and I grew up together, how he was struck by a goblin's illusion, and no one would believe me that he was alive, and it's up to me to find him. I start to tell her what I think really happened to Kai, and the tears begin to fall again.

"I'm s-sorry," I stammer. I wipe my nose on my sleeve. "I d-don't mean to cry so much."

She smiles understandingly and strokes my hair.

"It's alright. You're afraid. We're all afraid sometimes. Can I give you a piece of advice my father gave to me when I was your age?"

I sniffle and nod.

"Conceal it, don't feel it. Don't let it show."

I wrinkle my nose. "'Conceal it, don't feel it.' What does that mean?"

"It means you can hide your feelings from others. Then you stop feeling them yourself." She pats my hand. "Imagine you're taking all those messy fears, shoving them into a bottle, and sticking a cork in the top. No one can see inside the bottle. There may be a storm raging under the glass, but all people see is the calm on the outside."

"I don't think I can ever stop missing Kai. Even if I try to hide it, the sadness is still there. How can I conceal that?"

"You can learn," she says. "It just takes practice." She stands up, goes to the cupboard. When she returns, she is holding a bowl of cherries. Bright red and ripe, like the color of my shoes.

"I was going to use these to make a pie," she says, "but I think we should eat them for dessert, don't you?"

I nod eagerly, but I wait until she plucks a cherry from the bowl and puts it to her lips before I take one too. I plop it into my mouth and bite down. It is so perfectly ripe, exploding with flavor, the right combination of tangy and sweet. Elated, I reach for another.

"You're very brave, going after your friend," the woman says. She rolls a ruby-red cherry between her gloved fingers before taking a bite out of it. "You remind me of my sister. When I was young, I ran away from home. Like you, she ran after me and brought me back. I owe her my life."

"What's your sister's name?" I ask.

She blinks a few times. "I don't remember." For a moment, she seems upset, like she's reaching for the memory but not finding it. Then she laughs. "Well. The things you forget when you get old."

I frown. How do you forget the name of the sister that saved your life?

I shrug it off and pop another cherry into my mouth. It is even better than the first one.

On second thought, it's not that odd, her poor memory. I've already forgotten the name of the person I've come here to find. I'm sure I'll remember in a minute.

Together, we polish off all of the cherries in the bowl. I'm sorry when they're gone. I have never tasted anything so delicious.

The woman sets the bowl aside. "I suppose you'll want to get going," she says.

"Why?" I say.

"I thought…" She looks at me, then down at the empty bowl, and back to me. "Didn't you say you had somewhere to be?"

I think hard. I can't imagine where else I would go when everything I want is right here.

"I think you're mistaken," I say politely.

"Well then. You may stay as long as you like."

That sounds wonderful. "Can I stay forever?"

"I suppose. I've always wanted a child to share my garden with," she muses. She holds out a gloved hand. "Come on, let's go outside and wash this bowl out in the hand pump."

I take the woman's hand and carry the bowl down the lane to the pump. The garden is beautiful, the yard bursting with color. I cannot wait to explore it.

I do go exploring later in the day. I greet all of the flowers in their own languages, and they say hello back. There is only one spot in the yard where nothing is growing: a grey patch of dirt at the foot of the stone path sits cold and empty. I reach down and touch the cold earth, puzzled. It seems as though something grew there earlier today, something important.

It's just I can't quite remember what.

_A/N - I may have taken some artistic liberties here, but, frankly, if H.C. Andersen didn't want to roll over in his grave, he should have picked a smaller grave. ;) Thanks for reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting! (It's been an eventful week.) Hope you like the story so far!_


	12. Ch 11 - Echoes

**Johanna**

"Your Majesty," Kai whines. I slam my fork against the table, accidentally smashing a dent in the icy surface. We are eating leftover reindeer, and that already has me in a foul mood. Next time I see those goblins, I'll order them to bring me something other than tough, flavorless meat.

"Don't whine," I say. "You know how I hate it when children whine."

Kai clears his throat. "Your Majesty," he says. His voice is timid, but at least he is not whining.

"Better. Now what it is?"

"May I go? I need to find Gerda."

Not this again.

"Who's Gerda?" I ask him.

He looks at me blankly. He doesn't know. Neither do I. The question is an echo, a memory of someone he loved before he was illused. I can't fault Kai for this. Memories happen to the best of us.

I let my gaze drift to the fork I am holding, twirling it slowly, thoughtfully, in my fingers. Patterns of color dance and shift as it catches the light from different angles. Kai sits quietly, waiting for my response.

It is easy enough to distract Kai from his memories. I usually assign him an impossible task with the instructions to complete it before he goes. Once, I told him to find and pluck a real, live flower from the ice garden. Another time I ordered him to bring me the brightest snowflake on the North Mountain. After an hour or so of trying, he will forget why he wanted to leave in the first place.

I set my fork down. Its clinks gently against the table, the sound of ice against ice.

"First you must count every triangle that appears in my palace," I say. "Then you may go."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Kai leaps to his feet and runs out of the dining room. I continue my meal. The walls are covered in geometric shapes that repeat, blend, and shift in the changing light. There must be millions of triangles. Even I do not know the number. In about an hour I'll find Kai and tell him he can stop.

There is still a dent in the table where I slammed my fork only moments ago. I point a finger. A tiny jet of ice shoots out of my fingertip and fills in the gap.

When I run my hand over the table, it is smooth and even. The flat surface gleams up at me, unbroken. As if nothing had ever been remiss.

_A/N - A short chapter, but the chapters will start to get longer from here. Don't forget I love feedback! If you like the story so far, leave me a review and tell me why (and tell your friends so they can like it too!) If you hate it, I'd also like to know why! _

_Thanks as always for reading! Y'all are the best!_


	13. Ch 12 - Return of the Roses

**Gerda**

The garden is missing something.

I don't know what it is, but I can feel it while I whisper with the tiger lilies, while I play hide and seek with the daisies, while I rest in the golden shade of the forsythia bush. On that first day, I tried to ask the flowers whether they feel the same thing. Their answers were vague and meandering.

'I once saw a bird fly far overhead, a black speck in the distant sky,' said the tiger lily. 'I tried to call to him, but we didn't speak the same language.'

'Daisies love the summer sun,' said the daisies. 'The cold frightens us.'

'If gardens an oasis be,' said the forsythia, 'what be the desert? And from whence do weary travelers come?'

'None of you have answered my question at all,' I told them.

I have not asked in the months since then. It has not seemed important. Aside from the sense of missingness, I am quite content. Why spoil something wonderful by asking questions?

Today I sit in the branches of a cherry tree. The cherry orchard is surrounded by mountains, a secret haven hidden away from the rest of the world. Usually the trees on the mountains are green and lush. Now some of them are starting to turn orange and yellow. The sky over them is heavy and grey. Fall is coming, and with it rain.

I hop down from the tree and patter back to the garden, where it is still sunny. I find the woman on her knees weeding a patch of flowers by the back door. She is wearing a broad gardening hat with flower pictures on it.

The woman has become a friend to me in the past months. She wipes her forehead with a gloved hand and smiles up at me. There's always something sad in her smile. I wonder if she feels it too, the sense that something's missing. I've never thought to ask.

"Rain's coming," I tell her. "I saw it on the mountains."

She shakes her head. "It never comes here."

"Never? How does the garden grow without rain?"

"I water it."

"You don't water the cherry orchard."

"I suppose it's fed by underground streams. I've never had to worry about it."

It's true that it hasn't rained since I arrived. I guess I haven't worried about it either. "Does that mean it doesn't snow either?"

"Doesn't what, now?"

"It doesn't snow if it doesn't rain," I say. "Does it snow?"

She looks up at me as if I've said something confusing. I'm distracted by a flower pictured on her hat. I know I've seen it before, but it isn't in the garden. The garden has every flower. How have I never seen this one?

It takes me a moment to figure out what it is.

It's a rose.

"Your garden has no roses," I say.

"I've never needed any," she says.

"But you used to have roses. By the front gate. When I first arrived, I asked the roses about—"

Kai!

I was looking for Kai!

I've been here all these months without even thinking of him. How could I have forgotten?

"You're being silly, Gerda." She laughs. She dusts off her skirt and stands up. "Let's go inside. It's time for dinner."

I don't take my eyes off of her hat. I'm afraid if I do, I'll forget the roses, and I'll forget Kai again.

"I made cherry pie for dessert," she adds.

We eat a lot of cherry pie. Especially when I ask questions. An idea starts to form in my mind. I look out at the orchard. Hundreds of ripe, red cherries blink back at me like angry eyes.

"I'm not hungry!" I stomp my foot. She frowns down at me. I didn't mean to shout. "I mean, I'm not feeling well. I'd like to skip dinner."

"Are you feverish?" She pulls off a glove and feels my forehead with the back of her hand. "Oh, sweetheart! You're burning up!"

I don't think my forehead is burning. I think her hands are cold—they're like ice! I could get frostbite just from touching them.

The woman slides the glove back on.

"You'd better get straight to bed," she tells me. I rub my forehead to warm it up, but I don't contradict her. This is exactly what I'd hoped.

The moment she falls asleep, I'm going to run.

I lie in the dark, staring at the ceiling and willing myself to think of Kai. Like the time before he was illused, when his grandmother first told us the story of the Snow Queen who sailed through the streets on a sleigh of ice and painted frost upon the window panes.

"Can she come in here?" I asked nervously. I edged closer to the warm fire.

Kai put his arm around me. "Only let her come," he said. "I'll set her on the stove, and then she'll melt!"

I laughed. I made no such promise back. It never occurred to me that I would have to protect Kai.

It seems to take forever, waiting for the woman to finish dinner and go to bed. Finally, I hear her footsteps moving down the hall towards her bedroom. A soft click sounds as her door swings closed. I climb out of bed and stare out the window at the moonlit mountains. I'll run straight for the trees and never look back.

I count to one thousand and listen closely to make sure she's really asleep. Then I tiptoe down the stairs and out the door. When I reach the stone path, I start to run.

And stop.

The rose bush sits at the end of it, blooming as if it were never gone.

'Oh, roses,'I say. I am trying to be cautious, but there are tears in my eyes. I've missed having roses.

'Hello Gerda.' The roses sound tired.

'Where have you been?'

'Under the ground where the flowers go in winter.'

'That's awful!'

The rose bush shrugs. 'It is what it is.'

'How did you return?'

They rustle uneasily. 'There is a strange magic here.'

That I figured. 'Roses, you've been underground where the dead dwell. Was Kai down there?'

'No. We saw many souls, but not the one you seek.'

'Thank you. Grow well.'

I bend down to talk to a few flowers as I pass, ask them if they've seen him, as if hoping they'll tell me the roses are wrong. I don't want to admit to myself that I know what's happened to Kai. Their answers meander the way flowers' answers do in this garden. They have nothing to do with Kai.

I've delayed for far too long. It's time to stop kidding myself. I rise and turn to leave.

Something grabs my foot and I trip. I gasp, thinking the woman has stopped me, but it's only the narcissus. The flower uncoils itself from my leg and stands tall.

'You didn't ask me,' it says.

My heart leaps. 'Do you know about Kai?'

'No, but I know about the most beautiful flower in the world, and that is myself.'

'Tell someone else, Narcissus!' I yell. The flower rustles, insulted, but I don't care. If the river doesn't have Kai, and the ground doesn't have Kai, and the birds and the flowers haven't seen Kai, then that only leaves one likely option. The snow has Kai.

I jump to my feet and run and run, ignoring the indignant calls of the narcissus behind me. I don't stop until I'm halfway up the mountain with the chill of the fall air on my skin and the icy rain on my face. The woman and the garden and the cherry orchard are far, far below me. I slow to a walk and shiver. Rain drips from my hair onto my shoulders. I can't cross the mountain in one night. I have to find a place to sleep.

It is past midnight when I come across a fat pine tree. Its fallen needles make a bed that is mostly dry. I crawl inside and fall asleep almost immediately.

_A/N - Woot for time skips! This is where the story starts to pick up, so I'm a lil excited that we're here. Feedback is appreciated as always! Thanks for reading!_


	14. Ch 13 - The Spell

**Johanna**

I wake to an angry pounding at the palace door. The ice catches the sound, sending it echoing down long, polished halls. By the time it reaches my bedchamber, it's been magnified into a deafening roar.

"Kai!" I shout. I sit up, shoving aside sheets of white eiderdown. "Go get the door."

There is no answer. I lift myself from the bed and throw off the remains of sleep. These days my sleep is mercifully dreamless. That wasn't always the case.

The spot at the foot of my bed where Kai sleeps is empty, his little white blanket crumpled up and tossed aside. Kai has already gone to get the door. My mood lightens. At least I can depend on something in this world other than goblins waking me at all hours to chatter on about this war that never seems to go anywhere.

The goblins didn't send word about a visit today. I hope it's them and not soldiers from Arendelle-Ciera. The soldiers have come for me a few times, storming up the palace steps with lanterns burning and swords drawn. They never make it past the front door. The men are no match for me, but I will be furious if they hurt Kai.

"Don't open the door to any soldiers!" I order.

By the time I descend the central staircase into the main hall, the door is already open. Six goblins stand in the hall, stomping snow from their feet and gawking at the chandelier on the ceiling. One is a whole head shorter than the others, though they are all pathetic little creatures. Only the Head Goblin, the one I recognize from before, looks comfortable standing in my doorway.

"Kai, shut the door already," I say. Kai pushes against the giant front door but slips on ice. I will not have my servants embarrassing me. I raise my arms and the ice doors slam shut of their own accord.

Kai looks down, shame-faced. He knows he's failed me.

"Six of you?" I say. I stand on the stairs with my arms folded across my chest. "Last summer there were only two."

"Last summer you nearly killed the two of us," the Head Goblin says drily. "I thought it would increase the chances of one of us getting home alive."

"Getting home alive was never part of our agreement."

Four of the goblins look about nervously.

The Head Goblin puts his long, spindly hands on his hips. "With all due respect, Your Majesty, your lack of curiosity is a disappointment. We have traveled all the way here unannounced, and yet you don't inquire about our news."

"Curiosity requires interest. I have no interest in goblin affairs."

"The news we bring today doesn't pertain to goblin affairs."

"Then what does it pertain to?"

"The spell."

"What spell?"

The Head Goblin fixes me with his beady eyes. "_The _spell."

I grip the banister tightly to keep a beam of ice from shooting out of my hand.

"You said it was impossible."

"And you said to try harder. We did."

Despite my efforts to contain myself, spikes fly out from beneath my fingers. They wrap around the railing, twisting into a jagged ring.

"No lies," I say, "and no illusions. If this isn't true, I will make sure that none of you get out of here alive."

"We know," says the Head Goblin, "which is why you can believe us when we say this is no lie."

The inside of my chest flutters, but I will it to be still. I descend the stairs.

"Kai," I say. "Light a fire for our guests."

Kai disappears into the guest room.

"Understand this," I say. "You are committed, all of you. You cannot disappoint me. You're in too deep to fail now." I raise a wind in the room just so they get the message. It spirals into a bitter whirlwind, biting cold. Two of them shiver. A third chatters his teeth. I lower the wind again. "So tell me," I say, "what makes you so sure you've found the proper spell after all this time?"

Five goblins turn in one motion to face the sixth. It is the short, fat one they're looking at, the one who has yet to unbundle himself. He unwraps his scarf, removes his tattered hat and coat. Then he lifts his squashed brown face to look up at mine.

This isn't a goblin at all.

It's a troll.

_A/N – YOU GUYS! Did you see this story's amazing new icon, made by theboywholikesfire? I'm pretty psyched to be using it! Follow him on tumblr if you are so inclined._

_Thanks for reading and reviewing!_


	15. Ch 14 - Onyx

**Gerda**

I wake hungry. I've skipped dinner, and now I've missed breakfast as well.

I crawl out of my hiding place, being careful not to get mud on my skirt. My feet and calves are already caked in it. My clothes are clean but damp, and I'm not wearing any shoes. When I left home it was summer, but now I'm feeling the chill of the changing seasons.

I look to the sky. At least the rain has stopped.

I think briefly on the cozy cottage and the orchard of ripe cherries that I left behind, and my stomach growls. But I don't trust that food. The only thing to do is move on and find more. I start to climb.

After only a few minutes of hiking up muddy trails, I know I've made the right decision. In front of me sits a ligonberry bush, its dark red berries in full bloom. If the ligonberries are blooming, that must mean it's already mid to late fall. I need to get across the mountain and find shelter soon. Winters in Arendelle-Ciera come early and without warning.

I pluck a handful of ligonberries and pop them into my mouth. They're delicious but so tiny that I eat the whole handful before I realize it. I take another handful.

'Don't eat so fast,' says a voice. 'You'll make yourself sick.'

I look around. There is nothing nearby but trees and ligonberries whose languages I don't speak. It didn't sound like a plant's voice either. I look up.

A raven sits on a branch above me. He fluffs his wings and looks down at me.

'Did you say something?'I say.

'Don't eat those berries so fast,' he says. He says a few other words that I don't understand. I only look confused.

'Do you speak Raven?'the raven asks.

'No. My Grandmother speaks Raven, so I know a little from her. Mostly I just speak Swallow and Dove.'

'Then I'll speak to you in your language,' he says in Dove. 'I am called Onyx. What is your name, girl?'

'Gerda.' I pick up one berry at a time and put them slowly to my mouth. It is torture, I am so hungry, but he was right that I'd get sick. One time Kai and I found a patch of raspberry bushes and ate nothing but raspberries all day. That night my stomach ached something terrible.

'You're a very brave girl, Gerda.'

I shake my head. 'No, I'm not.'

'Yes. I saw you running from the valley where no birds go.'

'Why don't birds go there?'

'There is strange magic there.' Onyx cocks his head to the side. 'Could you not feel it?'

'I think it affects us all differently. It wouldn't let me leave.'

'And yet you left not knowing what the magic would do to you,' he said. 'That makes you very brave in my book.'

I wish I had as much faith in myself as this raven does.

'Onyx,' I say, 'have you see my friend Kai? He … ' It takes me a minute to remember details, but when I do it all comes spilling back. 'He is about my age with brown hair and brown eyes. He's been gone since last winter, but he's not dead and he's not in the river and none of the flowers have seen him. I think … I think the Snow Queen has taken him.' I swallow. This is the first time I've admitted it out loud. I don't want it to be true. I am so afraid of the Snow Queen. Yet the moment I admit my suspicions, I'm glad I did. At least someone else knows in case I can't save him.

Onyx cocks his head to the side. He stares at me with beady black eyes. 'Maybe,' he says. 'Maybe not.'

'What do you mean by maybe not?'

He flutters down from his branch and perches on a rock next to me. I offer him a berry, and he pecks it out of my hand.

'My mate lives among Arendelle's Palace birds,' says Onyx. 'Just beyond these mountain. She tells me that young princess Ida has chosen a mate. He is a little older than you with brown hair and brown eyes. He arrived last winter from Ciera, carrying only a knapsack.'

'Kai was carrying a sled.'

'Perhaps it was a sled,' muses Onyx. 'My mate may have been wrong. I'll ask when I see her next.' He pecked a few more berries out of my extended hand. 'She said Princess Ida has had many suitors, but she was waiting for someone cleverer than herself.'

'That must be Kai,' I say, excited. 'He is dreadfully clever. How far is the Palace?'

'Not far by wing,' says Onyx. 'On foot? Several days.'

'Can you take me there? I need to see for myself that Kai is alright.'

Onyx nods his little black head in a quick, bird-like motion. 'I will take you as far as Arendelle,' he says. 'Because you're brave, and because you were kind enough to share your berries with me even though you're hungry.'Then he spreads his wings and flutters up into the waiting sky.

_A/N - Happy Pi Day! Thanks as always for reading and reviewing! _


	16. Ch 15 - Twisted

**Johanna**

I take a step back.

"What is this thing doing here?" I point at the troll. Its squashed nose and bright eyes gaze up at me as if mocking me.

"Relax, Your Majesty," says the troll in a squeaky voice. It lifts its stubby arms and spins in a circle. The air around it grows hazy. When it stops turning, it is no longer a troll but a goblin like all of the others.

"That was an illusion," I say. A very good one, to fool me. The troll-goblin nods. "What's it used for?"

"To fool the trolls, Your Majesty," says the troll-goblin. His real voice creaks like a door that hasn't been oiled in ages. "Instead of trying to recreate the troll spell from scratch, we decided to infiltrate the trolls and convince them that I am one of them. Get them to trust me enough to spill their secrets."

I scoff. I knew it was too good to be true. "That's such a pretty plan, but it means nothing. You wish to infiltrate the trolls and gain their trust? Such efforts could take years."

The troll-goblin grins, showing pointed teeth. "Yes, it did. It took five."

He's done it already. Clever, clever goblins. I never doubted them for a second. "So you got the spell from them? You know it?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"It's too complex for me to simply relay it to you. It would be like you trying to give me the ability to raise winds just by telling me how. Suffice it to say that I can cast it." He rubs his ear. "It will, ah, require a sacrifice on your part."

No one mentioned any sort of sacrifice. "What kind of a sacrifice?"

"You'd have to give of your life force."

I am quiet. The wind outside picks up ever so slightly.

"Isn't there another spell you can use?" I say.

The troll-goblin laughs, a sound like a cough. "Resurrection spells are not exactly a dime a dozen. It may be another five years before we learn of another. If there is indeed another."

"This isn't good enough," I say. I'm irritated at them. I wouldn't say I was hopeful, but it was the closest thing to hope I've felt in years. How quickly the goblins can disappoint. "What's the point of sacrificing my life?"

"Only a portion of your life," says the troll-goblin.

"A portion?" Snow is starting to fall from the ceiling. "What's that? Five years? Ten?"

Kai returns from lighting the fire. "The room is ready for your guests," he says.

"Go away, Kai!" I shout. "Just—go—somewhere." The snow is falling thicker. Kai knows danger when he sees it. He runs up the stairs and disappears into the upper floor of the palace.

"What did I just say?" I ask the goblins. "I warned you not to disappoint me, but you could not even handle that." I swirl my hands together, one over top of the other, creating a ball of magic. Five of the goblins back away.

The Head Goblin marches straight up to me. "Stop this. All magic comes with a price, and you knew that when you sent us to find the spell. You're really going to kill the only creatures who can possibly give you what you want?"

In response, I raise the wind. It whips my hair across my face. His ears flap back and forth. My hands are still swirling together. The power between them is growing.

"Magic has rules!" he shouts over the storm. "Those rules can't be broken, but they can be twisted! You'll find a way to twist these ones!" I am too caught up by the thrill of the storm to hear him. The wind screams like a banshee. Five of the goblins cower against the wall in front of me.

"Do you want to see Julian again or not?" the Head Goblin shrieks.

I look down at him. The wind is blowing him backwards, but his black beady eyes are steady as they meet mine. I release my hands. Daggers of ice fly from them, crashing through the walls on either side of me. The goblins flinch, even the Head Goblin, but the daggers do not touch them. I've decided to let them live.

The storm ceases. The wind is gone. One of the goblins shakes snow from his hair.

"You're right," I tell the Head Goblin. "Magic can be twisted."

The Head Goblin sighs with relief. He has tumbled backwards onto the floor. I conjure a wind to blow upwards and push him onto his feet.

"Let's talk," I say. "Tell me the rules."

_A/N - Thanks for the reads, follows, and reviews! 3_


	17. Ch 16 - Arendelle

**Gerda**

Up. Down. Up. Down. The carriage bounces to the rhythm of the horse's feet, which make a clop clop sound as they pound against the dirt path. The movement makes me slightly sick, but I hold it in. We are almost to Arendelle Castle.

It was Onyx who has gotten us here so quickly. The clever raven flew up and up until the mountains spread out like a map on all sides of him and he found the nearest road. We moved in that direction for several hours. When we hit the road, I walked along it until a horse-drawn carriage came up beside me. Luckily, the driver took pity on me, a little girl with muddy feet and no shoes. I told him I was trying to get to Arendelle to find my brother, and he promised to take me there. He let me sit next to him in the front seat while Onyx flew overhead.

'Alright down there, Gerda?'calls Onyx.

'Fine,'I say without much enthusiasm. I wish I were a bird. Then I could fly instead of riding in this bumpy carriage.

We turn a sharp corner, and the city comes into view. Forest-green turrets rise over walls the color of sugar cookies. The fjord sparkles a deep blue, and ships with white sails glide majestically across the water. The mountainside is covered in evergreen trees. I inhale deeply. The air smells of pine.

In the center of the city, Arendelle Castle rises towards the sky.

Before the Goblins Wars, or so I've been told, the castle gates were never closed. Queen Elsa and King Frederick would host balls decorated with ice sculptures and attended by royalty and commoners alike. Sometimes, during the summer, Queen Elsa would turn the marketplace into a skating rink for a day, and everyone would glide across the ice in their sun bonnets and summer dresses.

Those are the stories I've heard. Such things don't happen anymore. When King Frederick and Queen Elsa vanished, Queen Johanna fled into the North Mountain. Then the Goblin Wars began, and Princess Sonja locked the gates and placed guards at all entrances.

I wish that, if Kai were going to be a prince at this palace, he could have been here during those happier days.

The carriage comes to a stop in the center of Arendelle. I thank the driver profusely and hop out of the seat. It is good to stand on land again. He wishes me luck in finding my brother, and we part ways. I approach one of the guards at the gates.

"Excuse me, sir?" I say. "I need to go inside."

"Do you now?" he raises a furry eyebrow.

"My brother's in there," I say. "Well, he's my best friend, not my brother, but he might as well be."

The guard sighs. "I don't have time for this. Scram, kid."

"But—"

"I said go bother someone else!"

I run back into the marketplace. Onyx flutters down and lands on my shoulder.

'Now what?'I ask him.

'You'll just have to sneak past the guards.'

'How?'

'It will be difficult, but my mate will know how. She knows the ways of the Palace. Wait here.'

Onyx flies off in the direction of the Palace. I wait in the marketplace next to a fountain that no longer flows. Children play in the streets, and mothers bustle back and forth to do their shopping. A pair of burly men unload cubes of ice from a sled. I try to imagine this whole marketplace turned to a cheerful ice rink, but I can't. Easier to imagine an eternal winter.

If Kai is in the palace, that means he's not with the Snow Queen. It's strange, but I just assumed Kai had been taken. By river, or by death, or by snow. But no one took him to the palace to marry Princess Ida. He went there on his own.

Was I wrong about Kai being illused? Perhaps he was simply growing up and moving on, just as they said. Perhaps Kai left me for something better. Maybe I should leave him to his new life.

A pair of ravens land on the bare fountain next to me. One of them is Onyx.

'This is my mate, Swiftwing,' he says of the second raven. Swiftwing spreads her black wings and dips her beak into a curtsy. She says something in Raven that I don't understand. Onyx corrects her.

'My mistake,' says Swiftwing. 'Lucky for you I speak fluent Dove. Now, dear girl, Onyx tells me you are trying to sneak into the castle.'

'Yes,' I say. 'I'm trying to find my friend Kai. Onyx says he is married to Princess Ida. I only want to know for myself that he is happy, and then I'll go.'

Swiftwing nods. 'What you are asking is difficult but not impossible. Listen carefully. On the eastern corner of the palace wall, the first guard of the night watch always falls asleep.'

'Every night?' I say. 'What if goblins attack? Have you told Princess Sonja?'

Swiftwing shakes her feathered head. 'My trainer is off fighting in the wars. No one else at the Palace speaks Raven or Dove. I can tell no one.'

'If I can get into the Palace,' I promise, 'I'll warn them. What else must I do?'

'Wait until the moon rises over the mountain,' says Swiftwing. 'Then climb over that wall. There is a tree on the other side of the wall whose top branches touch a narrow ledge. You must climb up the tree and onto the ledge. The ledge will lead you alongside the top floor of the palace. You will pass five windows, but stop at the sixth. In the summer, the window is usually open enough for a small girl to squeeze through. On the other side of that window sleeps Princess Ida and her prince.'

'That doesn't sound too bad.'

'It's not,' says Swiftwing. 'Except … oh. I wasn't thinking. You don't have wings.'

'No,' I say. I hold up my arms, devoid of feathers. 'Will that be a problem?'

'It will be ok,' says Swiftwing. 'But getting to the wall might be a little more tricky for you than for me. You'll just have to swim across the fjord.'

_A/N - You guys I'm so excited! My lil sis is going to watch Frozen with me tonight! She's never seen it before, but I'm so pumped because she's just like Anna and I'm just like Elsa, and I JUST WANT US TO BUILD ALL THE SNOWMEN TOGETHER! Ahem. Anyway. I hope she likes it._

_Thanks to all who read, favorited, or randomly asked me out this week (it's been an eventful week)! I take all those things as signs that you really liked the last chapter! :)_


	18. Ch 17 - A Drop of Blood

**Johanna**

"The first rule of the resurrection spell," recites the troll-goblin. We have moved into the guest room, where a fire is crackling. The eight of us, including Kai, sit around the table where we spoke last summer. Kai is looking longingly at the fire, but I make him stay in his seat. "The body must be present, and it must be well-preserved."

"Both of those preconditions have been met," I say.

"Is it here?" the Head Goblin wants to know.

"Do you think I'd live in a mausoleum?" I snap. "I have some respect for the dead. He is preserved in ice in another location. I will bring him here if and when you are ready to perform the spell."

Two of the goblins look uncomfortable. I think they are still processing the idea that I might have some respect for someone.

"Rule two," says the troll-goblin. "The cause of death cannot have been a pierced head or a pierced heart."

"It wasn't," I say. "It wasn't either of those things." My own heart strains within my chest, but I can't let the goblins see me tremble. "What's the next rule?"

"That brings us to the sacrifice," the troll-goblin says evenly.

"Go on."

"The spell works by moving the life force from one person to another. This is done at the very end of the spell by transferring a drop of blood from the living person to the resurrected one."

"A drop of blood?" I say, skeptical. "That's all?"

"No. The blood just establishes a connection. Then years of your life are transferred to the resurrected person."

"Which does me no good," I say, "if I am dead and he is not."

The troll-goblin shakes his head. "It doesn't work like that. The spell splits the years evenly. So say you were fated to die twenty years from today. You would live for ten years. Julian would also live for ten years. Then you would both die, at the same time, ten years from now."

"You said the years can come from any living person. It doesn't have to be me."

"No," says the Head Goblin. "But they have to be given willingly. Magic depends on intent."

"So I've been told." I wonder how much life I have left in me. I look over at Kai. He is so little. I wonder how old he is. I've never asked.

"Kai, how old are you?"

"Twelve."

Twelve. He probably has, what, fifty years left? Sixty? "You are going to give your life to Julian," I say. It has to be willing. "Is that ok?"

"Ok," says Kai.

"Good boy. Go sit by the fire." He jumps up and runs to the fire. He rubs his hands together and blows on them, trying to warm himself. I will have to let him sit by the fire more often. I want him in good health.

"Now what?" I ask the goblins.

"Now we need time to prepare the spell," says the troll-goblin. "It must be done outside, under the light of a new moon. The next new moon is two weeks away. I can be prepared by then."

"Only two weeks?" I say.

"Yes. That is, if you think you can prepare an eternal winter within two weeks."

I had almost forgotten about my side of the bargain. "I can give you your winter whenever I please. Only do your job first."

"Then in ten days we'll need a place to begin setting up for the spell. Two weeks from today we'll need clear skies."

"Done. I will make sure the skies are clear."

"Very good," says the troll-goblin. "I can perform the spell, as I said. Clear the skies, bring the person you want me to resurrect, and bring the sacrifice. I will do the rest."

And it will be that easy.

_A/N – _To Death_ has already passed the number of views_ _that my__ last novel-length story took 3 years to accumulate! Woot! Thanks guys! Plus my little sister liked _Frozen_ and wants to watch it again. :) So celebrations all around!_


	19. Ch 18 - Across the Fjord

**Gerda**

Remembering the plan is the easy part. During the day, I walk along the shoreline, trying to find the narrowest section of the fjord to cross. Kai and I used to swim all the time in the river, so I'm not worried about that. I know I'm a good swimmer.

Getting caught is what worries me. What if the guards see me and drag me to prison before I can even talk to Kai?

But I can't think about that now. I find a good spot, and then I hide in the trees nearby, waiting for dark. The scent of roasted meat wafts towards me from a kitchen somewhere, and my stomach rumbles. I haven't eaten since I left the cottage except for ligonberries and some bread that the carriage driver gave me. I didn't eat too much of it because I suspected it was all he had brought for himself. Maybe Kai will give me some palace food.

When the moon finally climbs over the north mountain, I'm ready. I tiptoe down the rocks and stand ankle-deep in the water.

Oh!

The fjord is so much colder than the river was.

I force myself to keep moving deeper into the fjord. By the time the water is up to my waist, my feet have grown numb. I pause to tie up my hair, vowing to keep my head above water. Then I start to swim, paddling slowly across the fjord. Even though it's not a terribly long swim, it seems to take ages. All the time my heart is pounding. I'm certain that a guard is going to spy me and cry out.

Nothing happens. I reach the rocks by the castle walls and scramble out. Frigid water drips from my hands and feet. I wring out my clothes as best I can. Then I let my hair down. I'm glad I tied it up. At least my head isn't too cold.

The wall is rough in places where stones have fallen out. The gaps are just wide enough for me to grip with my hands and feet. My foot slips only once, but I catch myself and keep going. I heave myself up onto the top of the wall and lie flat against it, peering onto the other side.

A small courtyard spreads out beneath me. I inch along the wall. I'm not sure how I'm going to get down. Swiftwing, who can fly up and down at her leisure, probably was not thinking about the drop.

Luckily, I spy a heavy wooden barrel propped up against the courtyard wall. If I lower myself onto it, the drop will not be far. I lower myself down slowly. First my feet, then my knees, then my torso, until my arms are stretched out above my head, fingers clinging to the top of the wall, feet dangling below me. My stomach is pressed against the rough surface. There is still a meter between my toes and the barrel. I will have to drop and hope the barrel is heavy enough to hold my weight.

I count to three and let go.

The barrel catches me. I land with a dull thud and freeze, thinking I might be caught, but no one heard my fall. There are several trees in the courtyard, but only one is touching the ledge on the second floor of the palace. It's a gnarled oak, reaching up to the sky with limbs coated in ochre and gold. I move quickly across the open courtyard and lift myself into the tree. At the top, I reach out and hoist myself onto the castle ledge.

I'm almost there, and still I haven't been seen. This might actually work.

From the ledge, I can look past the wall and see Arendelle spread out before me. Houses speckle the distant darkness with their glowing windows. Chimneys release warm grey smoke into the sky. To my left, the North Mountain rises up, dark and alone. I'm glad I don't have to go there after all.

The ledge is narrow, even for a small girl like me. I press my back and my palms against the cold stone wall behind me and slide across it, counting the windows I pass.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

The sixth window is open, just as Swiftwing said it would be. I duck inside.

It takes a minute for my eyes to adjust to the dim light. Two figures are asleep in a bed. I creep closer. The boy in the bed has his back to me, but the back of his head looks so familiar.

"Kai," I whisper. He doesn't hear me. "Kai!"

"Hm?" The boy rolls over and sits up. He blinks sleepily. "Who are you?"

"Oh, oh," I whisper. "I'm so sorry."

This is the right room. But that isn't Kai.

_A/N - Thanks as always for reading! Don't forget, I love feedback, so leave me some comments on what you love/hate! ;)_

_Soooo today I'm pumped to be collaborating with the extremely talented Xander Condie (look him up on youtube!) and will be recording vocals to go with his Let It Go/Defying Gravity mashup. Look for that in the near future!_


	20. Ch 19 - Julian

**Johanna**

The goblins are gone. I can feel their shapes moving down the mountainside, but I leave them be. The snow around them falls softly, and I have no desire to kill them. In fact, I've decorated the mountain with gentle flurries and beads of ice that cascade softly from trees, bending the branches towards the ground like crystalline weeping willows.

The goblins won't notice, of course. They have no eye for such things. But I will know that my mountain is beautiful. My heart is so light that it hurts and I have to press it down.

I've never liked memories. They are too strongly tied with emotions. Still, the ones that I let myself have are most often of Julian.

Julian's eyes were bright green, the color of the grass on the hillside. He loved summer days and sword fights and ice skating, but he loved me most of all.

Julian was the youngest son of the Palace Cook, two years older than me. We grew up together, running through the palace halls, getting in the way of servants, exploring those secret corridors that only children know. Sometimes my insufferable cousins, Sonja, Ivan, and Ida, would tag along, but mostly we outran or out-hid them. Those were our times, Julian's and mine.

I'm not sure when exactly our feeling for each other grew up. It seemed to happen overnight. The first time Julian kissed me, we were sitting on the branch of a pear tree at the edge of the palace orchard. I was so startled I froze the whole tree. Ice swept over the branches and crept into the leaves, weaving through their veins like a white lace. Julian laughed and plucked a frozen pear blossom from its stem. He tucked it behind my ear.

"It suits you," he said. "You'll be a snow princess."

"I'll be a snow queen," I corrected him.

"My mistake." He laughed and kissed me again. Those were happy times, when I believed in love.

Everyone said Julian would make a fine king consort someday. The fact that he was a cook's son didn't bother them. Arendelle-Ciera was fond of its royalty marrying for love. It was well-known that my Aunt Anna had married an ice salesman from Lapland. Queen Elsa and King Frederick married for political reasons, but Queen Elsa confided in me that she would never have married him if she hadn't known she would come to love him.

"And I do love him," she said. "Very much."

These are the idiotic ideas I grew up with. Love was touted as if it were the be-all end-all of existence. The goblins tell me this is still the case today. My stupid sixteen-year-old cousin, Ida, has just married a blacksmith's son from Ciera because she loved that he was so much cleverer than her. Honestly, it does not take much to be cleverer than Ida.

Julian and I were more practical. We decided to wait until we were eighteen to marry. We wanted to spend some time living our lives before settling down into being happily ever after.

As if living happily ever after had anything to do with real life.

_A/N – I kind of have a crush on Julian. Just sayin'. :p Thanks for reading!_


	21. Ch 20 - The Princesses

**Gerda**

I suck in my breath, trying not to be afraid. This boy looked like Kai from the back. They could pass as brothers. But he is older than Kai, with a longer face and lighter eyes. A stranger.

I've broken into Arendelle Castle to talk to a stranger.

The boy who isn't Kai taps the girl on the shoulder. "Ida, wake up. I think I've been illused."

Princess Ida sits up with a yelp. She has messy red hair and freckles. She shakes her head as if clearing it, then looks at me. "No, Al, I see her too. Unless we're both illused."

"I'm not an illusion," I say. "Please don't call the guards. I'm looking for my brother. The royal raven told me he came here. It's just you look so much like him, and she must have gotten confused. I came all the way from Ciera, and I haven't eaten in days, and I just wanted to talk to you—him—you when I thought you were him. I'm sorry."

I wring my hands. I'm prepared to beg for my life, but Princess Ida switches on the lamp. "Did you say the raven spoke to you?" she asks. "Are you a bird mage?"

"Not exactly. I only speak Dove and Swallow," I say. "Usually I only speak to flowers."

"Amazing," she says. "The castle has never had a flower mage."

Al scratches his head. "How did you get in here again?"

"Did you do that by magic too?" Ida asks.

"No," I shake my head. "I swam across the fjord and climbed over the wall."

"The guards didn't stop you?"

"The ravens told me the guard would be asleep. He always falls asleep, they said, but no one here speaks Raven, so they've never been able to warn anyone."

"How perfectly dreadful!" Ida's hand flies to her face. She leaps out of bed and picks up a lantern. "We have to tell Sonja."

"Now?" says Al.

"Yes, now!" says Ida. She sticks a pair of slippers onto her bare feet. "What if goblins attack tonight?"

Al climbs out of bed but wraps a blanket around himself to ward off the chilly night air. Ida takes my hand. "Come on," she says, pulling me into the hall. I blink in the light. The halls are made of marble, decorated with gold and ivory. Candles line the walls, shining bright as day, and a plush red carpet spans the floor. My bare feet sink into it as we walk. It's soft and warm, especially after I've spent days walking across treacherous woods and cold stone paths.

Ida stops in front of a bedchamber door. She knocks. "Sonja!"

The door opens a crack, and then Princess Sonja appears. The older princess is several inches taller than her cousin. There is a red scar across her cheek, and her hair is dark brown, the color of soil after it rains. I drop to my knees before her.

Kai's grandmother told me that Sonja is the only daughter of King Frederick's oldest brother. He died in a hunting accident when Sonja was very small, and so the princess has lived with her cousins in Arendelle Castle for most of her life. Sonja is not officially the queen—blizzards seem to spring up every time a coronation ceremony is scheduled—but she was next in line after Queen Johanna turned against us. She has ruled Arendelle-Ciera for five years now.

"Who's this?" says Princess Sonja.

"She's a bird mage and a flower mage," says Ida. "She climbed in through the window."

"When?"

"Just now."

"Are you insane?" Sonja steps away from me. "You brought her straight to me? What if she's a goblin spy? What if she's illused?" She looks down the hallway. "Guards!"

I hear shouts and footsteps moving down the hall towards us.

"Please," I say quickly, "I'm not illused. I'm only looking for a friend who is. Let me prove that I'm loyal by helping you."

"How?" Sonja eyes me suspiciously.

"The ravens told me how to get in. They said there's a guard on the eastern corner who falls asleep every night. Nobody here speaks raven, so they couldn't warn anyone. I told them I would warn you."

"You might have approached us during the daytime."

"I tried, honest, but the guard wouldn't let me in."

The guards arrive, ten or so in all, holding weapons as tall as I am. Princess Sonja holds up a hand and they stop. I notice that her left hand—only her left hand—is covered in a thick black glove down to her elbow. She leans in and whispers something to the nearest guard. Half of them turn and leave, marching in formation down the hall. The other half stay.

"They're going to see if your story checks out," she tells me. "In the meantime, stand up and tell me about your illused friend."

"His name is Kai," I say. I rise to my feet. "He looks like Al, only he's my age and has a rounder face and darker eyes. We grew up together. He was like my brother. One day he started being cruel for no reason. Everyone else said he was just growing up, but I knew he had to be illused to change so quickly. Then one day last winter he disappeared. They said he was dead, but they were wrong again. He's not dead. The Snow Queen has him."

Ida gasps, "Poor thing!" and grabs Al's hand.

Sonja frowns. "Johanna prefers isolation. Why do you think she has him?"

"Kai told me about a moment two winters ago. Before he was illused. He said the Snow Queen stopped outside his window and saw him looking at her. She stared right at him and beckoned to him. He was so scared, telling me this. He said, 'If anything happens to me, take care of my gran.' I asked him what he thought was going to happen, but he didn't know." My lower lip trembles. "Now he's gone. Everyone else has given up on him."

Sonja's expression does not change, but she nods slowly.

"Johanna's started appearing in town with another figure in her sledge," she says. "I assumed it was a snow golem. It could be a child."

"We have to help," says Ida. "We have to send someone—"

"The moment we or one of our soldiers approaches Johanna, we're dead," says Sonja. "If she is going to be of any use to her friend, she must appear alone. That doesn't mean we can't help you," she adds to me, "if you are who you say you are. It only means that the final leg of your journey must be undertaken alone."

As if on cue, the guards return. They disappear with Princess Sonja into her room. After a few minutes, Sonja returns.

"Your story checks out," she says. "The sleeping guard will be reassigned, and the raven will be rewarded. We will help you get to your friend. But," she adds, "you must promise not to climb into the castle through anymore windows."

I assure her that I won't.

"Then," she says. She yawns. "… let's get you some food and dry clothes. You can have the guest room over the West Wing. When you're ready, we'll send you up the mountain."

_A/N -_ _Thanks for reading, reviewing, and favoriting! :)_

_For those interested, I finished adding vocals to the Let It Go/Defying Gravity mashup! You can find a link on my tumblr blog (my name is riseliketehbreakofdawn) or search "let it go defying gravity mashup" on youtube and it comes up on the first page of search results (my name is Theresa). Check it out if you're so inclined!_


	22. Ch 21 - Eternity

**Johanna**

Sometimes I think I must be crazy.

Frankly, I'm not sure. I don't think it would bother me if I were. I have long given up on caring what common people think of me. As far as I'm concerned, they're the crazy ones. Going through their days full of hot emotions that simmer under the surface of their lives, just waiting to boil over. Who can live like that? It sounds terribly distracting.

I prefer to be rational, unencumbered by common woes. Seated on my ice-encrusted throne, I can sit and think about fear and pain and death, and it doesn't frighten me at all. Even with my own memories, I can look back detachedly. No fear. No agony. No longing. None whatsoever. I have moved beyond that.

On winter days, Julian and I used to sit in the Western Corridor. It was the coldest room, and I could always feel the snow swirling on the other side of the broad windows. I would throw back the red velvet curtains, curl up on a window seat, and watch it fall. Sometimes I'd reach out with my mind and give the snow a push, but just as often I'd be content to let the flakes fall on their own.

It was easier, back then, to trust fate and let the snow land where it may.

One afternoon in particular comes back to me often. Julian was next to me, practicing his fencing with a rapier I'd fashioned for him out of ice. In a few years, he would be given a real sword, a gift from King Frederick to celebrate our engagement. But on that day we were still too young, so Julian practiced with a sword I made of ice. He would lunge forward, slashing in a circular motion at an imaginary opponent. Then he jumped back, landing lightly on his feet.

I pressed my forefinger to the window pane. Lines of ice crystallized at its tip, spreading and intersecting, forming shapes like the diamonds and squares on a stain glass window. I shifted the ice from one pattern to another until it formed a picture.

Julian lowered his rapier and stared at the image that was slowly taking shape beneath my hand.

"Is that supposed to be me?" he said.

"Not everything is about you," I said. "But yes."

"Why is my chin the size of the rest of my head?"

I blushed. "I'm working with a limited number of ice shards. Just be glad I didn't make that one your nose." I made the shard melt, though, so that it would shrink.

Julian sat on the cushioned window seat next to me. "I'm only kidding, Jo. I love it." He took my hand in his and kissed it. "I'll frame it and keep it in my room."

I laughed. "No you won't. It would break the second you tried to move it."

"Then I'll frame it and keep it right here."

"It will only melt in the summer."

That's the downside to my power. Even the most exquisite, carefully crafted designs will dissolve in the heat. All ice melts eventually.

I trace my finger around the top edge of the picture. A thick line of white frost appears in its wake. "What would you do if something happened to me, Julian?"

Julian has picked up the rapier and is practicing again. He pauses mid-parry. "What?"

I trace a line of white frost along the bottom edge. "What if I suddenly melted away? Like the snow does. What would you do?"

"I don't know. Are you worried about melting?"

I laugh, carefree, and trace a line of frost along the right side of the picture. "Not that I know of. I was just wondering."

Julian twirls the rapier slowly in his hand. "I'd leave Arendelle. I couldn't stay here knowing I'd lost you." He switches hands, repeats the same parry on his left side. "What would you do?"

"The same, I guess. But I'd never let anything happen to you." I lift a hand to the sky. Snowflakes soft as feathers descend from the ceiling. "Wherever you go, I'll order the ice to bring you home safe."

I finish tracing the frame along either side of the two figures in the ice picture. They stand together, their hands interlocked. I point a finger at the ice and carve our names in the top of the frame. Julian puts his arms around me.

"It's perfect," he says.

"You like the chin?"

"I like all of it. The frame is missing something though." He picks up his rapier, swivels it until the point is hovering over the bottommost line of frost. "What should I write?"

"I don't know."

"How about 'True love thaws the frozen heart?'"

"Too cheesy."

"'They will never melt our love.'"

I mime gagging.

"Wait, I've got it," says Julian. He carves a series of symbols carefully into the frame. Eight letters. One word.

'Eternity.'

"It's perfect," I say.

He entwined his fingers with mine, holding me close like the figures in the ice picture. We sit like that for the rest of the afternoon, Julian and I. Watching the snow, not caring where it falls.

_A/N – Thanks for reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting! Y'all are fantastic!_


	23. Ch 22 - Mage

**Gerda**

It's colder when I wake up. Ice has coated the windows in pretty frost patterns, squares and diamonds that criss-cross and overlap. I wonder if this is the Snow Queen's doing, or if the frost fell that way naturally.

Ida is standing at the foot of the guest bed, looking excited.

"Come on, sleepy head!" she says. "It's almost noon, and Sonja is calling for you."

I throw off the covers and jump out of bed. I don't want to keep the ruler of Arendelle-Ciera waiting. Al meets us in the hallway, and we walk downstairs until we reach the royal menagerie. The air in here is warm and moist. Birds of every size and color flit and flap from perch to perch. I duck as a large black bird takes off next to me, his wings beating loudly against the air over my head. This bird has a yellow throat and a beak of red, orange, and blue. I have never seen one like him before. I call out to him in the only languages I know, but he doesn't respond.

Sonja waits underneath the window with a man who Ida tells me is the keeper of the menagerie. Next to them on the windowsill, Swiftwing sits, preening herself.

"Thank you for coming, Gerda," Sonja says. "I need a translator." She gestures towards Swiftwing. "Is this the raven who warned you?"

"That's her." I nod affirmatively. "Her name is Swiftwing. And there was another—her mate, Onyx."

"Please tell Swiftwing that she and her mate will be rewarded for making Arendelle Castle a little safer. They will be made the official ravens of Arendelle Castle and afforded a prime spot in the menagerie."

I pass the news onto Swiftwing. She dips her head into a bow. Sonja is watching our conversation intently, and I wonder whether she believes that I really am a bird mage. Swiftwing, meanwhile, is positively delighted.

'Tell the Princess that I am honored,' says Swiftwing. She flutters her feathers happily. I do, and Sonja nods like she is satisfied. The menagerie keeper promises to get right to work preparing a place for them.

After that, we all sit down to lunch together, Sonja, Ida, Al, and I. I am both terrified and thrilled. I never thought I'd be sitting down to eat with the royal family. We eat in the dining room, where the servants have spread a white cloth across the red oak table. More servants bring out platters of smoked salmon, herring, and cod. We are surrounded by dishes piled high with steaming potatoes, corn dripping with butter, nuts in little brown shells, and fruits of all sizes, ripe and round and full of flavor. I bite into the ligonberries but leave the cherries untouched. I've had enough of those.

Ida is still impressed by the fact that I'm a flower mage.

"We should give you a job at the castle," she says. "We don't have enough mages anymore, what with the war." She bites into an ear of corn. "Can you say something in flower?"

I shake my head. "There has to be a flower in front of me."

"What about birds?"

"Same thing."

"What if it was a stuffed bird? Or a porcelain flower?"

"I don't know. I've never tried."

"Can you—"

"Ida, for goodness' sake, let her eat," says Sonja. Ida falls silent.

"When I've recued Kai, I'll come back," I promise, "and you can show me some fake flowers, and I'll see if I can talk to them. Maybe I'll even teach you some of the language."

I've only known Ida for a day, but I've never seen her look more pleased.

_A/N – I am rather sick this week. Good thoughts, prayers, and/or sacrifices to your demonic overlords on my behalf are all greatly appreciated! And thank you for reading—just knowing that there are people out there who enjoy my stories always makes miserable days brighter!_


	24. Ch 23 - Goblin Glass

**Johanna**

In those days, no one knew about the Mirror of Opposites. They didn't know about the illusions. People around the kingdom started acting strangely, but we didn't know why.

At first we thought it was a disease. We sent them to doctors, who found an irregular heartbeat but nothing more. The Palace Mages determined it was some sort of magic, but it wasn't a kind familiar to them.

No one thought to look at goblin magics. They had no reason to suspect goblins yet.

It was Queen Elsa who discovered that the mirror was the source of discontent. I was there when she did. The guards had brought Ruben, Julian's older brother, in front of the King and Queen for stealing a set of golden candlesticks. Ruben was a Bird Mage, smart and kind and careful. He wouldn't even fence with Julian for fear that someone would get hurt.

"Ruben, you're no thief," said King Frederick. "Why did you do this?"

"If your family needs the money," Queen Elsa added, "we'd be happy to—"

Ruben sneered. "Stupid woman! I didn't take them because I need money. I took them because I don't care what you think." He spat in her face. I leapt to my feet, hands already forming a snow ball, but the guards grabbed him first and started to pull him backwards.

"Stop!" Queen Elsa held up a hand, and the guards paused. She calmly wiped the spittle from her cheek. "Ruben, there's some kind of ice in your heart."

"You don't know what you're talking about," said Ruben.

Elsa narrowed her eyes. "Hold him still," she ordered the guards. She lifted her hand and let it hover over Ruben's heart, her face screwed up in concentration. For a moment, nothing happened. Then Ruben shouted, and a little speck of something flew from his heart. Elsa reached out and caught it between her thumb and forefinger.

Ruben dropped his eyes to the ground. "Forgive me for saying those things, Your Majesties. I don't know what I was thinking."

"It's alright," said Elsa. "I don't think you were yourself. Just don't do it again."

King Frederick nodded to the first guard. "Let him go."

"And bring me a box," Queens Elsa added, addressing the second guard. "One with a tight lid that won't let dust in or out." She held the speck of tightly in her hand.

"What is it, Mama?" I said, leaning in to look at the speck.

"It's glass, I think." She held it up to the light, examined it from different angles. "Glass with icelike qualities."

"I don't understand." Glass may shine like ice, but they are two different substances. It won't respond to an Ice Mage's touch.

She handed it to me. "Feel this, but be extremely careful."

I took the speck and rolled it around in my hand. It wasn't quite like ice. It was heavier, harder to control, but I could still control it if I concentrated. I'd never felt anything like it.

"We should examine the others who have been acting strangely," said Queen Elsa to King Frederick. "If they have glass ice in their hearts too, we may have found the problem."

King Frederick nodded. "Bring them here," he ordered the remaining guards.

She was right, of course. Every one of them did. Some also had glass in their eyes, which Mama removed too. Over time we started to understand that this glass followed rudimentary rules. Like ice, it could only embed itself in the head or the heart. If it stabbed a person somewhere else, the wound would sting for a while but eventually heal.

Unlike ice, it wasn't fatal. Instead it changed one's perception of the world. "Everything wretched seemed good while everything good seemed diminished," was how the formerly illused described it. Which is foolish, when one thinks about it. How could they know? Perhaps the illused are the ones who see the world as it truly is while the rest see only lies.

Words spread that Queen Elsa and I were capable of curing the illused. The task of finding and removing glass shards fell to us, and it proved to be an impossible one. Not every illusion affected people as strongly as it did Ruben. Many were subtler, craftier, the changes harder to detect. We couldn't simply sit down and sift through every heart in the kingdom. Two Ice Mages didn't have that kind of strength.

One evening I found Queen Elsa out on the balcony, her face tilted to the sky. The clouds above her were swirling into a thick black storm, but no snow was falling.

"What are you doing?" I said.

"I wondered where the glass-ice was coming from," she said, not taking her attention from the clouds. "I think I know. Feel that." She waved her hand in the general direction of the storm. "It comes down from the sky during storms. There are tens of thousands of pieces up there."

I couldn't feel that many—my powers weren't that strong—but there were at least hundreds. I prodded at one with my mind, but instead of flying out of the sky it just flopped over, dead weight. Moving glass-ice is like trying to roll a boulder up a hill.

"Why is it there?" I asked. "Did one of us make it by accident?

"That occurred to me, but I don't think so. It's more like… " She called a piece of glass-ice down from the sky. It sunk slowly until it reached her outstretched hand. " … it's like something big was made and then it shattered. See this piece? The edges aren't smooth."

I felt it with my mind. She was right. The edges were sharp, like it had been broken off of something.

"A lot of them were like that," Queen Elsa continued. "One of us would remember making something that big. I want to try to put them together. Maybe we can figure out how to fix it if we know what it is."

"We're going to need a lot more pieces," I said.

"Yes, we are," said Queen Elsa. She beckoned another piece down from the sky, plucking it out of the air when it got close enough. "We might as well get started."

"What, gathering all those pieces? That's impossible."

She smiled and beckoned down another piece. "Impossible things are always more possible than they seem."

I didn't know what she meant by that, but, being an obedient daughter, I agreed to help.

It became a daily ritual for her to call shards of glass down from the sky and lock them into an air-tight box with the other pieces. Maybe we would have succeeded if I'd tried as hard as she did, but I didn't. I hated calling the glass. It was slow, tedious work, and I almost always tried to get out of it. We were only halfway done when she left and never returned.

To this day I am never sure whether or not that's something I should regret.

_A/N – Hey guys, I want to try something! I love feedback, but I don't get a lot of it, and I think that's because … well, I don't really give you much incentive to say anything! So here's what I'll do: For every 100 reviews this story gets, I'll post an extra chapter that week! (Only one review per person per post, please.) It can be as simple as "Good job!" or "This sucks!" or something constructive if you're so inclined! _

_If you think that's silly, you're free to ignore it. I always appreciate you reading whether you review or not! :)_


	25. Ch 24 - Up the Mountain

**Gerda**

At the end of the meal, when I am happily stuffed to the point of bursting, Sonja asks Ida and Al to leave the room.

"I need to speak to Gerda alone," she says. Ida sighs dramatically, but she and Al leave. Sonja moves from her spot at the head of the table. She sits down in the cushioned chair next to me and folds her hands in her lap.

"That was nice of you, offering to talk to the flowers," says Sonja. "I think Ida wishes she were a mage." She sighs, like her thoughts are elsewhere. "She and Johanna were always fascinated by mages. They used to watch them work together. Sometimes I wish Ida had been the Ice Mage instead of Johanna, but … " She dismisses the thought with a wave. " … who's to say it would have turned out any better?"

"Ida knew the Snow Queen?" I say.

"We all did. We were friends once, though she was a different person back then. I'm never sure whether she doesn't remember or just doesn't care. You really plan to face her?"

"I have to. Kai is trapped on the mountain. Who is going to save him if I don't?"

Sonja looks down at the black glove on her hand. "You're right. Of course you're right. But you need to see something." With her free hand, she pulls off the black glove. I try not to gasp. Her left hand is blue and translucent. It's solid ice.

"What happened?"

"Johanna."

"She did that to you?"

"She did. The hand was an accident as far as I can tell. She didn't hit me in the head or the heart, and that's why I'm still alive." She traces the scar on her cheek. "This one wasn't an accident. I angered her, and she nearly killed me." She slips the black glove back on. "I showed you that so you would see how powerful she can be without trying. You can't attempt to fight her. She'd kill you in a heartbeat."

I shiver. "I don't want to fight her. I just want to save Kai. If I die trying, well …" I swallow nervously. I hadn't really thought that far ahead.

"I don't think you'll die though," she says. "I think you'll succeed."

I fidget in my chair. I'm not sure I'll succeed.

"Johanna's power depends on magic, but magic depends on intent. And your intent is far purer than hers is. For that reason, I think you'll have more luck than anyone. You and Kai have a good chance of returning alive."

She stands up. I take that as my cue to stand up too.

"I want to help you," she says.

"You do?" I say. "Why?" I didn't think Sonja trusted me. Permission to leave the palace was as much as I hoped for. I didn't expect help.

"Because I'd save my best friend too if I could." Sonja looks over at the window, at the tendrils of frost that creep across the panes. Then she looks back at me. "What do you need?"

"Boots would be nice," I admit. Sonja looks down at my bare feet and laughs for the first time since I've met her. She is pretty when she laughs.

"You'll have the finest boots in all of Arendelle," she promises. "Let me also give you a carriage to take you up the mountain to Lapland. Ask for Ida's parents, Prince Kristoff and Princess Anna, who live near the top of the mountain. They go up there to fetch ice this time of year and will gladly let you stay with them."

"That's more than I can accept—"

"Accept it," says Sonja. "That's an order."

That afternoon I am gifted with a beautiful gilded gold carriage, complete with a driver and a footman to travel with me. It makes me feel better to have someone to travel with. Sonja hands me a pair of golden boots lined with warm fur, and Ida gives me a soft muff to wrap my hands in. Sonja, Ida, and Al (accompanied by several guards) walk me to the courtyard to see me off, where Swiftwing and Onyx are waiting to say goodbye. Ida impulsively throws her arms around me in a hug.

"Come back and visit any time," she says.

I say I will. Assuming I make it back alive.

The carriage rolls out through the city streets. When I arrived, I had nothing but a muddy sundress and an empty belly. What luck I've had, to be leaving the city in such a grand fashion!

Onyx flies behind the carriage for several miles before the wind gets to be too strong and he stops, settling in the branches of an evergreen. He lifts a black feathery wing in a wave goodbye. I wave back. The carriage climbs on until Onyx's tree disappears from site, blending into the background. I turn my face forward, to where the tip of the North Mountain draws ever closer.

_Hold on, Kai, _I promise silently. _I'm almost there!_

I'm halfway up the mountain when the carriage abruptly stops.

_A/N - Thanks for reading/reviewing! Love you guys!_


	26. Ch 25 - The Coronation of Queen Johanna

**Johanna**

One month before my eighteenth birthday, King Frederick disappeared.

He was travelling east to the goblin's kingdom to negotiate a truce. The tension between our kingdom and theirs was not yet so bad. War was one of many possibilities, but everyone was confident that it would be averted. For that reason he didn't take many guards with him. This proved to be a mistake.

The king and his company set off down the road to Ciera, but they never arrived. What happened to them was anyone's guess. Some people blamed the goblins, but there were no signs of goblin activity in that area. Others blamed highwaymen. Arendelle likes to accuse me of letting the road fall into ruin, but even in those days it had its robbers and thieves. We waited months for news of Papa—a letter, a ransom note, anything. Nothing came. Mama and I sent out snow storms, thinking we might feel his shape in the swirling snow, but we found nothing, and it was too dangerous to keep trying.

Julian and I postponed our wedding. It wasn't something we talked about. We just felt this was a time for mourning, not celebration.

Then Queen Elsa announced she was going to look for him. She selected a team of guards and arranged for the servants to pack her things. I didn't like this. I was worried for her, of course, but I also knew that, while she was gone, I'd effectively be queen.

"Don't go," I said.

"I have to."

"No, you don't. I'm scared for you."

"If it was Julian out there, would you go?"

She had me on that one. "That's different. If I left, Arendelle-Ciera would still have a queen. I couldn't rule it alone."

"You'll be fine, sweetheart. I wouldn't leave if I didn't think you were ready, and your advisers can help if you get stuck. It's only for ... " She bites her lip and doesn't finish the sentence. Her eyes are far away. Then she smiles and smooths my hair. "I'll come back. I promise."

She left the next day. She never came back.

I waited. Arendelle-Ciera waited. She never should have gone. The kingdom was crumbling without her, and it had nothing to do with me. The people missed her. They missed the kingdom-wide balls, the ice skating, the hope she inspired. I did my best, I listened to my advisers, but I couldn't replace her.

After nearly a year with no word from either of my parents, the advisers said it was time to make me queen. Things with the goblins were growing tense, they said. Arendelle-Ciera needed a solid ruler to rally behind. They needed someone to unite under if things got bad.

"If we go to war, you mean," I said.

"Let's hope it never comes to that," they said.

It was almost certainly going to come to that. Anti-goblin sentiment was running rampant, and for good reason. The goblins knew my storms weren't nearly as strong as Queen Elsa's could be. Without the constant threat of a deadly winter hanging over their heads, they became bolder. They refused to negotiate. They taunted us. They owned up to creating the Mirror of Opposites but refused to help us retrieve the pieces.

I knew I wasn't helping when it came to the mirror. My storms kept stirring up the shards, sending them flying into unsuspecting heads and hearts. I pretended that the storms weren't mine, that we were just having a bad winter. The truth is I was losing control. Snow kept slipping out from between my fingers. Winds flew up around me, unbidden.

Julian and I spent a lot of time together in the weeks leading up to my coronation. He was the only thing that kept me calm. We would talk about how much the future had changed, or we would talk as if nothing had changed at all. We would tell stories, like the time we were visited by the King of Corona and Queen Elsa accidentally froze his favorite hat. Or we would sit in silence, saying nothing.

If I'd known these were the last of such moments with Julian, I'd have treasured them more.

The night before my coronation, Julian's grandmother fell ill. She'd always been sickly, but within a fortnight she grew worse. He found out the next morning.

"I have to go to her," he said.

"The coronation is hours away," I said. I didn't know how I would make it through without him. "Please stay."

"I'll stay for you," he promised. "I'll won't leave until the ceremony is over."

The coronation ceremony was beautiful, or so I was told afterwards. I just remember how surreal it was, how I expected Mama and Papa to burst through the door at any moment and berate me for taking their crown. It didn't feel like it belonged to me, none of it. Not the crown, not the ceremony, not the applause at the end when the chaplain introduced me as Queen Johanna of Arendelle-Ciera. I kept my eyes on Julian in the front row of the chapel. He smiled and gave me a thumbs up.

Julian, his parents, and his four brothers came up to me afterwards at the coronation ball to offer congratulations. And to express their apologies for leaving so soon. I waved away the offense and offered good wishes for the grandmother's health. Before Julian left, I caught his hand.

"Come back safely," I said.

"As soon as I can," he said.

The ball was all smiles and dancing. Sonja, Ivan, and Ida congratulated me twenty times as if this were some sort of personal accomplishment. Aunt Anna and Uncle Kristoff waxed on about how beautiful I was, "just like your mother at your age." A couple of the village children approached me, begging me to make an ice rink, and were disappointed when I said no. Truthfully, if I tried to make ice at that moment, I wasn't sure what would come out. Spikes or spines sharp as knives. Nothing suitable for children to play with.

From what I'm told, Queen Elsa's coronation ball ended abruptly when she caused the Great Snow. Mine went off without an apparent hitch. It ended happily, with everyone saying goodnight and departing for their respective homes and rooms. I think they were relieved that nothing had happened.

They should have known they weren't safe yet. It was too early for relief.

_A/N – I'm having a bad mental health day today. Thoughts, prayers, sacrifices, etc. all appreciated. Thanks for being amazing as always!_


	27. Ch 26 - Little Robber Girl

**Gerda**

"What's going on?" I call from inside the coach. There is no answer.

Rough hands wrench open the door and pull me outside. I stumble to my knees in the snow. A chorus of laughter surrounds me. A band of robbers stand in the snow, sneering down at me.

"What have you done with the others?" I demand, but before I've uttered the question I see what they've done with my driver and footman. They lie facedown in the snow, unmoving. I choke back sobs. Have I come all this way to be killed by robbers?

Above me, stars glitter like ice crystals in an unfeeling sky. A big, burly robber binds my hands and ties the rope to a tree. The rest of them start to divvy up my things one by one. One of the robbers takes my coat. Another takes my muff. A third takes my beautiful golden shoes. I wiggle my toes sadly. I'm barefoot again.

At least they'll probably kill me before my feet become frost bitten.

"What do we do with the girl?" says a small, skinny robber. He prods me in the ribs. He's hardly taller than me, but he has a mean look in his eyes.

"I guess we kill her," says the big, burly one.

"Her things are royal though," says the skinny one. He rubs his chin with his hand. "Suppose we keep her and hold her for ransom."

"Absolutely not," says a woman robber. She is bundled up in a thick hooded coat. I didn't know she was a woman until she spoke. "It's hard enough feeding everyone as it is. We don't need another mouth."

"I can work if you keep me alive," I say. "I can sew, and I can cook."

The woman snorts. "Fat lot of good that does us when there's no food."

"And I can—" I hesitate. I'm not sure I want them to know this. On the other hand, the knowledge won't do me any good if I'm dead. "I can speak to birds. And flowers. I can ask them where there's food nearby."

"You're a Mage?" They burly one looks impressed.

"Mm hm," I nod. The robbers murmur amongst themselves. Hope swells in my chest. They might actually let me live.

"A Palace Mage could be worth a lot," he says.

"She could be lying," says the skinny one. He pats the tree that my rope is still bound to. "Prove it. Ask this tree where to find food."

"I don't speak Tree," I say. "Only to most flowers."

The woman scoffs loudly. "And how convenient that no flowers grow on this mountain, so she can't prove anything. I knew it. She's lying."

"But you can't kill her!" A child's voice, high pitched and shrill, comes bursting out of the crowd. Seconds later, a little girl with dark skin and dark brown curls elbows her way through the arguing robbers.

"You!" she says to me. She plants her hands on her hips. "How old are you?"

"Twelve," I say.

"I'm also twelve. You will be my friend." She turns to the tallest robber of all. He steps forward. The way the other robbers part around him makes me think he is their king. "Papa, I want her to be my friend."

The robber king laughs heartily. "Of course, princess." He clears his throat. "The Mage will stay with us. Does anyone object?"

A few robbers scowl, but no one says anything. The robber king unties me from the tree and hands my rope to the little robber girl.

"Hold tight, Princess," he says.

"I will," she nods. She turns to me. "Don't run away, now, or I'll kill you myself."

"I won't," I say. Where would I go with no food, no coat, and no shoes?

The robbers climb back in to their caravan. The little robber girl climbs into the front seat, then pulls me up so that I'm sitting beside her. It is somewhat warmer in here where the wind isn't so harsh. The girl hands me a blanket, and I wrap myself in it.

"My name is Merla," says the little robber girl. "What's yours?"

"I'm Gerda."

"Gerda," she says happily. "I just knew we'd be friends. It's in our names."

I don't know what she means.

"Because they are spelled almost the same," she explains. "Gerda and Merla. We both have five letters, and the _er_ and the _a_."

"Uh," I say.

Merla frowns. "You can spell, can't you?"

"Yes," I say quickly. I've studied it in school.

"Everyone thinks I can't spell," she tells me, "because they say I'm savage. But I can. I love to read. I have so many books. Do you like books?"

"I like books about flowers," I say.

"I don't have any of those," says Merla. She turns to her father. "Papa, I want a book about flowers."

"We'll find you one, Princess," he promises.

Merla turns back to me, her hands on her hips. "Tell me some things you've read about flowers."

I'm not sure what to tell her. Merla taps her foot impatiently. I've never met a girl this bossy. I start to list all of the flower facts I can think of—how high the daffodil usually grows, the best places to find bluebells, what time of year the roses bloom. All the while the caravan is slowly crawling up the North Mountain. I wonder what it would take to escape from this place. We are getting closer and closer to Kai.

And closer and closer to the Snow Queen.

_A/N – Thanks for reading and for your reviews! I kind of enjoy the fact that this is the character Kristoff was based on!_


	28. Ch 27 - Storm

**Johanna**

I am recalling why I am not particularly fond of memories. Once they start to sweep over you, it is almost impossible to get them to stop. They all come pouring out at once, like a waterfall, or a river that is rushing too fast for me to freeze.

The coronation ceremony over, I closed the door to my room. My eyes fell over the canopy bed with its lacy blue curtain, the tapestry on the wall that Sonja knitted for me two winter's prior, the snow globe on my nightstand. It looked exactly the same as always. Nothing had changed since that morning, nothing altered since this time last year when Arendelle-Ciera still had a King and a Queen. It struck me with horrifying certainty that I was queen now, that this was permanent, that Mama and Papa were never coming back.

Snow started to fall, spiraling down from the ceiling.

I picked up the snow globe and tipped it over. Real flakes of snow drifted up from the tiny ice castle inside, fluttering against the side of the globe like little white butterflies. I was angry, suddenly, at the snow globe, at the perfect little world inside of it, pristine and shining and so unlike my own.

I pushed a wind into it, sent the snow fluttering faster and faster. The air twisted within the icy orb, pounding against the ice castle until pieces of it broke off, one by one. I caught the sharp ice shards and sent them flying, spinning, crashing into the side of the snow globe.

The globe cracked and shattered. The wind broke free from its tiny prison and began to swirl around my room. I raised my hands and let it fly. It caught the snow, ripped down the tapestry, tore the fragile canopy in two. The window cracked, little fissures snaking across the panes like lines of frost. I send a jet of ice flying at it, and the glass exploded outward, the wind and snow flying outside and rocketing into the sky.

Dark grey clouds rolled in, blotting out the stars like ink. The storm grew and spread like a frost-ridden plague. The wind screamed, snow churning through the air, balls of ice sailing down from the sky and ricocheting off of windows and roofs.

I sat in my room, eyes closed, feeling my storm around me. I have never let a storm take me over like this. It feels so powerful, so free. Ideas swirl into my head and immediately burst into fruition. Snowdrifts as high as roofs. Done. Hale that falls up from the ground to the sky. Done. White horses made of snow and ice, icy hooves clattering from roof to roof. Done. Wind that lifts the water from the fjord into the air, where it freezes into a crystal whirlwind. Done.

Fate has pushed me to and fro, and I have watched helplessly, powerless to stop it. Tonight I am not powerless. Tonight I am the queen of the ice and snow. I go to the window, watch the world come alive as light flashes across the screaming sky. I can manipulate it as I please. My thoughts shape it, my words command it.

The storm is beautiful, and its mine.

_A/N – Thanks for reading!_


	29. Ch 28 - Robbers' Lair

**Gerda**

The robbers live in the ruins of what was once a castle. The stone walls are crumbling, the ceiling caved in. A whole band of them must live here, because the great hall is crowded with boiling fires, whining bulldogs, and men with stringy hair who leer at us when we walk by. I try not to look afraid, but I am very afraid.

Merla takes my hand and leads me through the hall and into a corner where a pair of straw mats lay squashed against the wall. Over a hundred pigeons perch in a cage nearby, their beaks tucked under their wings as they sleep. A little further on, a reindeer strains against the rope around his neck.

"These are mine," Merla says proudly, pointing to the pigeons. "I keep them in a cage, or they will fly away. And this is also mine," she adds, pointing to the reindeer. "If I don't keep him chained up, he will run."

She sits down on one of the mats and pats the one next to it. I sit down next to her.

"You're a Bird Mage, aren't you?" she whispers conspiratorially. "Tell me what the doves are saying."

"Right now they're sleeping," I say. "They're not saying anything."

Merla frowns. "Wake one up and make him talk."

I stand up and approach the nearest dove, perched at the end of the line.

'Excuse me,' I say.

The dove blinks awake.

'Sorry to disturb you,' I say. 'Merla wants me to talk to you, and I'm afraid she might kill me if I don't.'

'Are you a pet of hers?' says the dove.

'I guess I am,' I say. 'What is she like?'

'She treats us well enough,' says the dove. 'She's not so kind to the reindeer though.'

Merla jumps to her feet and flies to my side. "You're really doing it! What are you talking about? What is he saying?"

"He says you're kind to the doves, but not to the reindeer."

She laughs. "That's because the reindeer misbehaves. He likes to talk back." She pulls a little knife out of her pocket. The blade flashes in the firelight, and I take a step back.

"Don't worry," she says to me. "The knife isn't for you." She holds it up to the reindeer's throat. The poor animal trembles. "He makes the funniest faces when I threaten him."

It isn't funny at all. Merla giggles and puts the knife away. "Come on. Let me show you another thing that's mine."

She lifts the straw mat and pulls a wooden box out from underneath. From her pocket she withdraws a little key and sticks it into the lock. It pops open with a click.

The box is filled with books.

"I've read them all," Merla tells me. She holds up a thick red book. "This is a good one. It's all about adventures. Someday I'm going to go travelling too. I'll be an adventurer."

"Don't you travel up and down the mountain?" I ask. Merla scoffs.

"The mountain is all the same," she says. "I want to see something other than ice and snow." She hands the book to me. "Have you read it?"

I shake my head.

"Then sit here. I will tell you the story."

I stay for several days with Merla. We become something like friends. She is bossy and a little bit frightening, but she protects me whenever the other robbers leer at me or complain that I am a waste of food and should be killed. No one wants to cross her. She is fierce, but I come to realize she is also lonely. Merla has never known another child her age. For that, I'm sorry.

Always, though, I am looking for a chance to escape.

The dove that I spoke to on that first day still talks to me sometimes. He sees that I am distracted. One night, when all the others are asleep, he asks me why.

'I came to the mountain to rescue my friend Kai,' I tell him. 'Now I'm a prisoner. I can't help him at all.'

'Kai?' says the dove. 'You mean the Snow Queen's Kai?"

'You've seen him!'

'I was a free dove only months ago,' the dove says sadly. 'I saw Kai with her often. I never knew where he came from, but he is her pet, just as we are Merla's.'

My heart leaps and sinks at the same time. I start to cry. Kai is really with the Snow Queen, and now he's trapped as long as I am trapped.

Merla wakes up and rolls over. "Stop crying and go to sleep, or I will kill you."

I silence my tears, but I cannot sleep.

_A/N - Final exams are eating my soul, but luckily I prewrote my chapters! Thanks as always for reading! _


	30. Ch 29 - Mine

**Johanna**

The storm that followed my coronation lasted for three days.

On the third day, I woke up feeling better. I still missed Queen Elsa and King Frederick, but the loss had become bearable. I'd ranted myself out in the storm.

I had two thoughts going downstairs for the first time in three days. One, this was the second time in a row that a coronation ceremony had ended with a snow storm. Arendelle-Ciera was never going to want to crown another queen again. Two, my advisers were definitely going to kill me.

At the bottom of the grand staircase, a cluster of about ten people stood talking to a common woman I didn't know. Aunt Anna and Uncle Kristoff were among them. The woman was holding a little girl, and both of them were crying. Ida was the first to hear me come down the stairs. She nudged the others. They looked up at me, then quickly looked away.

That was my first hint that something was wrong.

"What's going on?" I said.

Sonja met me at the bottom of the stairs. She took my hand and pulled me away from the group.

"It was a bad storm," she said. She opened her mouth again, as if she were going to say something more, but she couldn't think of the words. That was unusual for Sonja. Finally, she covered her mouth with her hand. "It was really bad, Johanna."

I had never seen a bad storm. Mama and I had always been cautious. If one of us planned a storm, we warned the population days in advance. This was the first time I'd seen the kingdom caught off guard. "How bad was it?"

"People died."

"No." My hand flew to my mouth. That was back when I cared about people dying. In a few minutes, it wouldn't bother me anymore. "How many?"

"About a dozen. Jo…" Her face stayed calm, but she folded her hands in front of her like she was pleading with me, or with someone I couldn't see. "Julian was one of them."

"You're lying."

She would never lie about this.

Sonja goes on, her voice shaking. "That woman Aunt Anna is talking to, her daughter fell in the fjord. Julian went in after her. He saved her life, but he's gone, Jo."

I look over at Aunt Anna. She's crying. The woman is crying. The stupid little girl who fell in the fjord sucks her thumb. She won't meet my eye.

"Where is he?" I say.

"I—"

"Did they get him out of the fjord? Because if he's still down there, I'll freeze the whole thing just to find him. I swear I will, Sonja." I can feel my voice rising, growing hysterical. But it can't be me talking, talking about Julian's death, because Julian can't be dead.

"No, he's out."

"Bring him here."

"But his family wanted-"

"Bring him here. That's an order."

I sat down and waited.

His four brothers carried him in, covered in a shroud. Aunt Anna directed them to rest him on the settee in the sitting room. I hoped against reason that there had been a mistake, that I would peel away the shroud and find myself face to face with a stranger. But I folded back the white cloth and found Julian. He was wearing a brown tunic, his rapier at his side as always. I wondered whether he'd dived into the fjord carrying it or whether one of his brothers placed it there. His face was pale, green eyes closed. I touched his forehead. It was ice cold. Death is cold even to me.

I fell to my knees, pressed my cold cheek against Julian's, too numb for tears. How did this happened? I should have felt his shape in the storm. I should have felt him in the ice and thawed the fjord so that he could climb out. I could have, if I'd been paying attention. I had promised Julian that my snow would always keep him safe. Instead it killed him.

This was my fault. This, like the storm, was mine.

Ice seized in my bones and began to seep outward. This ice wasn't alive like my storm had been—this ice was still and dead. No movement, no light, nothing but dead, dead, dead, dead—

"JOHANNA!" Sonja grabs my arm. "Stop!"

"Don't touch me!" Ice shoots out of my hand and hits her square in the palm. She winces and clutches her hand in pain, but it didn't hit her in the head or the heart. She'll be fine.

"The walls—" she gasps. I look up. I hadn't noticed that the ice wasn't just inside me. It has seeped out everywhere, leaking through the walls, squeezing the beams, crushing the foundations under the floor. The room is less than a minute away from collapsing. Everyone else has backed out of it into the hallway. They're watching the exchange with terrified expressions, looking at me as if I'm some sort of monster.

Because I am.

I turn back to Julian, or what's left of him, thanks to me. Still covered in a thin white shroud. The man who was going to be king deserves to be buried in better. I lift my hands and cover him in a coffin made of pure ice. Then I carve designs on every side, interweaving patterns of diamonds and pear blossoms and swordsmen slaying monsters made of ice. Everything he was to me. Everything he was going to be. At the foot of the coffin, I carve a series of symbols. Eight letters. One word.

'Eternity.'

Sonja watches me work, still nursing her hand. Maybe I hit her harder than I thought, but I tell myself I don't care. I sweep out of the room without a word. There is nothing in the world that words can fix.

Then I run.

_A/N –If you need me, I'll just be here crying._


End file.
